Overview
Craig Carr is a common law practitioner specialising in clinical and other areas of professional negligence, personal injury, and public authority liability. He is instructed in complex high value claims and frequently in large multi-party actions. His practice extends to civil claims seeking damages for ECHR breaches and proceedings in the Coroner’s Court. He acts for both Claimants and Defendants and has experience from Inquest, through interlocutory hearings to trial, JSM or mediation.
Education and Memberships
- St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford (Foundation Scholar & Exhibitioner)
- Inns of Court School of Law
- Middle Temple (Astbury Scholar)
- South Eastern Circuit
- Personal Injuries Bar Association (PIBA)
- Professional Negligence Bar Association (PNBA)
- Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL)
- Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL)
Clinical Negligence
Craig has a wide-ranging clinical negligence practice covering the full range of medical disciplines with values running into millions of pounds. He is instructed in birth injury, delayed diagnosis, surgical error and consent cases. He acts in claims against NHS Trusts, GPs and private practitioners. Where death has resulted from the treatment he is often instructed to act on behalf of the bereaved family at inquest, either in advance of, or alongside, the civil claim.
Clinical Negligence Cases
- Various Claimants v Nair (ongoing): Junior counsel advising over 30 Claimants in claims against Consultant Urologist Dr Manu Nair alleging negligent surgery and/or advice.
- FH v Medway NHSFT (ongoing): Sole Counsel in a claim pleaded at £3.1m following an amputation necessitated by negligent medical treatment.
- DC v Homerton University Hospital NHSFT (ongoing): A £0.8million claim for failure to diagnose lung cancer.
- SC v Barnsley NHSFT (ongoing): A £0.6 million claim alleging failure to provide appropriate thromboprophylaxis following surgery.
- SW v University Hospitals Birmingham NHSFT (2018): Junior Counsel in a claim pleaded at £2.2million following renal failure caused by prescribed medication.
- FT v York Clinical Commissioning Group (2016): claim pleaded at £1.64 million following negligent surgical treatment of a ruptured tendon.
- LW v West Hertfordshire NHSFT (2016): £1.04million Claim alleging failure to diagnose cardiac abnormalities prior to a fatal heart attack.
- OS v West Hertfordshire NHSFT (2016): Junior counsel in a £1million claim alleging a negligently performed hip replacement.
- Kruza (2018): Four day inquest into the death of a mother who struggled with her mental health after having a baby.
- RL (2015): inquest into the death of a baby born with a congenital heart condition that required surgery and then a period on an ECMO machine during which there was a fatal embolism.
- Bravo (2015) inquest (and subsequent civil claim) where there was death caused by embolism following catheter ablation and use of a Femostrap to close the femoral artery.
- Watson (2014): Inquest into a death in a community hospital of gastro-intestinal haemorrhage caused by an undiagnosed chronic duodenal ulcer.
- Wooding (2014): Inquest (and subsequent civil claim) into a death following the failure to give adequate DVT prophylaxis following surgery (neglect verdict).
- Matthews (2013): Inquest into a death following the failure to diagnose lung cancer (neglect verdict).
- DC (2013): Three day inquest into the death of a new-born from bilateral florid pneumonia.
- Gorny (2012): Five day inquest into a death from dehydration following a hip replacement and the failure to treat the pre-existing diabetes insipidous (neglect verdict).
Personal Injury
Craig undertakes work on behalf of Claimants and Defendants in EL, PL, military and RTA claims. He specialises in private law claims alleging civil liability against public bodies in the exercise of their statutory/public functions and he has considerable experience defending s.41 claims against Highway Authorities. He has appeared in the Tribunal in CICA claims and CRU appeals.
Since 2008, a very substantial part of his practice has been civil claims for damages arising from the physical and/or sexual abuse of vulnerable Claimants. His practice covers claims against the individual abusers and/or their employers, and those claims of professional negligence against social workers or medical professionals. He also advises in claims involving infringement of ECHR rights (Articles 3, 6 or 8), whether as standalone claims or as an adjunct to the common law claim, where there has been a failure or delay by a public body to protect a vulnerable party from harm.
He is lead counsel in the claims alleging the physical and sexual abuse of vulnerable individuals and more generally Manchester Children’s Homes (No.2) Group Litigation and has advised in many of the individual claims (of which there are over 600, making it one of the largest ever child abuse GLOs). He has advised individual claimants in the Nugent Care Group Action, the St Williams Group Action and the Medomsley claims. As well as Children’s Homes and Detention Centre cases, he has been instructed in claims against Private Schools, the Church, the Scouts, NHS Trusts and private therapists as well as claims against individual abusers.
In 2018 he was appointed to the Independent Appeals Panel of the Lambeth Children’s Home Redress Scheme.
Personal Injury Cases
Claimant cases
- JM (ongoing): a £7million RTA claim involving a child suffering head injury.
- St Annes School (2014 – 2019): Representing Group of ex pupils of St Annes in their claims for damages as a result of sexual abuse by the Headmaster.
- Manchester Children’s Homes (No.2) (2008 – 2019): Advising the Group and numerous individuals in claims of abuse at Children’s Homes run by Manchester City Council
- SH (ongoing): a £0.8 million secondary victim claim following an accident abroad.
- PA (2017): a £0.87million accident on a boat claim
- KA (2015): a £1.1million RTA claim where there were significant orthopaedic and other injuries.
- ZL (2015): a £1.55million RTA claim where there were multiple orthopaedic injuries.
- Dwyer (2014): Represented the family of the Deceased at the six day jury inquest into his death at work and the subsequent High Court Claim for damages.
- Hristov (2012): Represented the partner of the Deceased at the jury inquest into his death from electrocution and was instructed in the subsequent High Court Claim for damages.
Defendant cases
- SC (ongoing): Defending a Local Authority Highway Authority in a £2.4million s.41 claim pursued by a motorcyclist.
- JA (ongoing): Defending an employer in a £0.97million stress at work claim
- SB and others (ongoing): Defending a Local Authority in a multi-party action pursued by firefighters alleging physical and sexual abuse in the workplace.
- JD and others (2018): Defending an employer in a multi-party carbon monoxide exposure at work claim.
- EB (2017): Defending a local authority in a claim for damages arising from the brutal assault of the Claimant by a third party who was the subject of a supervision order.
- DT (2014): Defending in a claim alleging breach of the Equality Act and Data Protection Act by a Local Authority’s social services department
- CM (2014): Defending an employer in an occupational stress claim pleaded in excess of £475,000.
- BD (2012): Defending a Local Authority education authority in a claim alleging negligence and infringement of human rights for failing to diagnose or act upon a pupil’s alleged chronic fatigue syndrome.
Commercial
Shortly after becoming a tenant in chambers, he was part of a team of lawyers instructed by the Defendant in a $97million constructive trust claim concerning the profits of a hedge fund. Craig maintains a varied practice in commercial work with a focus on claims involving allegations of professional negligence. He was instructed by the Claimant companies in a claim pleaded at over £4.6million against their former accountants, which concluded at mediation. He was instructed by the Defendant in a claim in the Chancery Division alleging losses resulting from breaches of the FSA’s Conduct of Business Rules. He acted for the Claimant in a professional negligence claim following an oil spillage on local authority land. He has received instructions from the largest provider of asset finance in the UK in contested debt recovery trials. He acted on behalf of an African Airline in a claim for damage to their aircraft and consequent loss of profits. He has experience in claims involving unfair terms, sale of goods and services, agency and misrepresentation.
