Changes to Practice Direction on witness statements
On 06 April 2020, new changes to the Practice Direction on witness statements for Civil Claims came into force.
I am greatly indebted to my colleague David Giles in the Civil team at Goldsmith Chambers, who has put together a “Practice Note” to assist in the drafting of effective witness statements.
The Practice Note can be read here
Successful Mediation in a FTT claim for unreasonable service charges
I attended a court mediation today ‘undercover’ in my capacity as a leaseholder, to assist the Residents Association in their claim against the Landlord of our flats in a claim for unreasonable electricity charges incurred following a change of managing agent. The chairman of the RA had done all the work and led on the negotiation, but I assisted ‘behind the scenes’ during the mediation when it came to evaluating and making offers etc. The process was really successful and the landlord’s managing agent agreed to refund more than £4500, having previously denied any liability when they failed to change one of two communal electricity meters over from a standard variable tariff to a significantly lower tariff for several months, claiming that they did not know that there were two meters.
Mediation is really a great form of ADR in the right case.
Wells v Devani [2019] UKSC.4
As Head of the Civil Practice Group at Goldsmith Chambers, I am delighted to report the recent success of my colleague David Giles as first junior counsel in the Supreme Court in this case involving an implied contractual term as to when a liability to pay commission was triggered in an estate agency contract formed during a telephone conversation. In essence, the Supreme Court has clarified that it is possible to imply terms into an offer
The judgment can be read here
Could you have a dental claim?
As a Specialist Restorative Dentist and former NHS Consultant, I am uniquely placed to assess your case, identify key issues that others often miss, advise and prepare a suitably detailed pre-action Letter of Claim and prepare your particulars of claim.