23 June Case Updates Lessons for Expert Witnesses from O'Neill v Scottish Ambulance Service Board: Independence, Expertise and the Boundaries of Expert Opinion in Remote Clinical Triage Personal injury, Independence, Scotland, 10. Records Assessments and Site Visits, Remote Assessment, Hindsight bias The decision in O'Neill v Scottish Ambulance Service Board [2025] CSOH 17 provides important guidance on the legal and professional standards applicable to remote clinical triage. The court reaffirmed that clinicians conducting telephone assessments are held to the same professional standards as those undertaking face-to-face consultations.
18 November Case Updates Personal injury litigation in Ireland Personal injury, Orthopaedics, Ireland, 10. Records Assessments and Site Visits, Radiology, 11. Report Writing, 15. Giving Oral Evidence One of the important differences between Ireland and other British Isles jurisdictions is in the procedures followed in personal injury litigation. This case is illustrative. If the plaintiff had brought his case in England or Wales, how would this case have progressed? Keogh v O'Keeffe [2025] IEHC 26
29 August Case Updates Haywood v Ritchie & Ors (t/a as H Ritchie & Sons) [2005] NIQB 42 Personal injury, Medical expert, Northern Ireland, 06. Rules and Regulations, 12. Responding to questions This case concerns three important issues in personal injury litigation in Northern Ireland: the extent of the plaintiff’s medical records to which an expert can have access; what the expert can ask about how the injury was sustained; and whether a plaintiff can refuse to be assessed by a particular expert.
12 July Case Updates Hitting all three most common compliance errors in expert reports Personal injury, 16. Criticism and Complaints, 17. Maintaining your professional edge, 06. Rules and Regulations, 11. Report Writing, 14. Changing your opinion, 12. Responding to questions, 15. Giving Oral Evidence The medico-legal expert in this personal injury claim was urged by the judge to seek further training after he made all of the three most common compliance errors which the EWI sees in expert reports. Hamed v. Ministry of Justice (County Court in Cambridge – 7th June 2024)
22 April Case Updates Appeal in the Cause Michael Marshall against Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Company Limited [2024] SAC (Civ) 13 Personal injury, Scotland, Sheriff Appeal Court, Absence of Expert Evidence, 03. Setting Fees and Getting Paid, 06. Rules and Regulations The sheriff appeal court upheld the sheriff's award of damages for injuries sustained in a vehicle accident which were assessed, in the absence of admissible expert evidence, on the basis of common experience.
8 August Case Updates Palmer v Mantas [2022] EWHC 90 (QB) Part 35, Personal injury, Bias, Language, Exaggeration / Dishonesty, Preparation for a personal injury assessment, 10. Records Assessments and Site Visits, 11. Report Writing, 14. Changing your opinion, 15. Giving Oral Evidence “Mind your language and avoid pre-judging the claimant”
7 August Case Updates R v Beggs [2023] NICA 24 Personal injury, Psychology, Learning disability, Psychiatry, reliability, Sexual assault medicine, ABE interview, Down syndrome, Genital injury, Menopause, Penetration, 10. Records Assessments and Site Visits, 06. Rules and Regulations, 11. Report Writing “Beware opining on the reliability of a complainant”
3 April Case Updates Shehabi v Kingdom of Bahrain [2023] EWHC 89 (KB) Personal injury, Psychiatry, Adjustment Disorder, Psychiatric Injury, 11. Report Writing “Is psychiatric injury a personal injury for the purposes of the State Immunity Act 1978?”
7 February Case Updates Egan v Castlrea Co-Operative Liverstock Mart Ltd [2023] IEHC 16 Personal injury, Medical records, Disclosure/discovery, Ireland, 10. Records Assessments and Site Visits “Can a medical expert see post-accident medical records in a personal injury case?”
21 February Case Updates Thorvaldsen v Dundee City Council [2021] ScotCS CSOH 120 Personal injury, Psychiatry, 10. Records Assessments and Site Visits, 11. Report Writing Topics: Somatoform disorder