Jonathan Aspinall reports from the Court of Appeal on hesitation, liability and costs
In the recent case of Whitehead (A Protected Party Proceedings by Her Litigation Friend, Amy English) v Bruce and others [2013] EWCA Civ 229, [2013] All ER (D) 209 (Mar), the Court of Appeal held that a defendant driver “dawdled” when she passed a car obstructing the road and came in to the path of an oncoming motorcyclist and pillion passenger. The court held that she should have proceeded with “all due despatch” and found the three defendants to be almost equally at fault, subject to one of them getting away with a 5% discount.
The appeal followed a three-day liability trial. The defendants had obtained evidence from three accident reconstruction experts. Three leading counsel were instructed in relation to the appeal.
Facts
The claimant was injured in a road traffic accident while she was a pillion passenger on a motorcycle that was being ridden by the first defendant. The third defendant had been driving a Rover saloon that had broken down.
The third defendant’s engine had failed
