Jasmine Murphy

Areas of expertise

• Clinical negligence & personal injury
  • Personal injury

    Personal injury

    Jasmine has extensive experience encompassing a wide range of areas of personal injury law: fatal accidents; employers’ liability; occupiers’ liability; highway accidents; road traffic accidents; product liability; nuisance; landlord’s liability for defective premises and travel claims. Additionally Jasmine is regularly instructed in difficult applications involving procedural issues such as relief from sanctions and costs arguments.

    Jasmine is usually instructed in larger value claims involving catastrophic injuries and complicated causation issues.

    Jasmine regularly deals with accidents which occur in the workplace including occupational illness litigation. She has a comprehensive knowledge of the various statutory provisions and is used to dealing with accidents arising out of construction work, manual handling, work at height, defective work equipment, dangerous work premises and vicarious liability of other employees.

    Jasmine has developed particular niche areas of interest in:

    • accidents arising out of international carriage by air (the Montreal Convention); and
    • injuries caused by animals.

    Montreal Convention cases can be complicated because the Montreal Convention has its own rules on liability and limitation and case law from other jurisdictions is relevant.  Jasmine has been involved in cases involving injuries caused by horses and dogs and enjoys picking through the technicalities of the Animals Act 1971.

    Jasmine also has expertise in professional negligence, with specific involvement in professional indemnity claims arising out of solicitor’s handling of PI claims and issues of capacity.

    Her expertise in relation to personal injury related professional indemnity claims can be found at that tab.

    Relevant Work:

    • A v LB [2018] Jasmine represented the claimant who was a young woman with serious burn injuries resulting from a childhood accident. She was left with significant scarring, including to her face, and complex psychiatric disorders. Jasmine advised throughout the litigation and assisted the claimant obtain a significant settlement.

    • N v A [2017] Jasmine as instructed for the defendant in this claim arising out of two injuries caused by horses sustained by the claimant at work. Issues involved contributory negligence and quantum. The claim was put at over £2,000,000, but with Jasmine’s assistance settled for less than 20% of that value at a JSM.
    • Padley v CDI Anderselite Limited [2016] The issue in this case was whether a second action, brought in identical terms to the first, was an abuse of process in the circumstances that the first action had been struck out for breach of an unless order and relief from sanctions had not been sought. Jasmine represented the defendant at the successful strike out application in Southampton County Court when the claim, a £200,000 employer’s liability claim, was struck out. The claimant appealed and succeeded. Jasmine and Charles Bagot KC managed to secure permission from the Court of Appeal for a second appeal which as listed for February 2016. Shortly before the appeal hearing the claimant discontinued her claim and paid the costs of the client that Jasmine and Charles represented.

    • Re Z [2016] Jasmine represented the claimant who was a cyclist injured in a road traffic collision. She suffered a serious injury to her knee and once the claim was issued the matter was settled at a joint settlement meeting for £175,000.
    • Leung v (1) Eftekhari (2) Eftekhari [2015], Central London County Court Jasmine advised and represented the defendant home owners who were sued by their former live-in maternity nurse. She alleged that she had been bitten by insects, in particular spiders, whilst living in their home and had received hospital in-patient treatment as a result. She brought a claim in negligence for personal injury as well as claims for wrongful dismissal, holiday pay, sick pay and providing misleading references. Following Jasmine’s advice, the defendants applied to strike out the claim and following a two hour hearing the Judge struck the claim out on the basis that there were no reasonable grounds for bringing the claim. Costs were awarded to the defendant. Qualified one way costs shifting applied but as a result of the exception in CPR 44.15 the claimant lost her costs protection and was ordered to pay the defendant’s costs.
  • Fraud

    Fraud

    Jasmine is experienced in dealing with claims with a fraud element, whether exaggerated injuries or fraudulent road traffic claims or holiday sickness.

    Recent Work:

    • Hegner & Hancock v Red Sea Holidays [2018], 22.03.2018, Croydon County Court, DJ Parker

    Jasmine was instructed by the defendant to argue that QOCS was displaced following a finding of fundamental dishonesty at trial in a holiday sickness claim. QOCS was displaced and the claimants ordered to pay over £13,000 in costs.

    • L v DM [2016]

     Jasmine was instructed by the defendant in a case where an employee was injured whilst at work in a factory. The claimant claimed over £500,000 in damages. Jasmine advised throughout, settling pleadings, advising on evidence, preparing the Counter Schedule and attending the JSM. Despite claiming he had to use two crutches to mobilise, surveillance evidence showed the claimant walking without any crutches. The matter settled at a JSM for a fraction of its alleged value.

  • Inquests & inquiries

    Inquests & inquiries

    Jasmine often represents the family of the deceased as well as interested parties at Inquests throughout the country. Usually brought in to handle difficult situations where civil proceedings may follow, Jasmine is used to dealing with the very sensitive and important issues that are involved.

  • Product liability

    Product liability

    Jasmine has been instructed by both claimants and defendants in product liability claims arising out of a variety of products such as child’s toys, kitchen equipment, sports equipment and bicycles.

  • Disease

    Disease

    Jasmine has experience in bringing and defending occupational disease claims including claims for asbestosis, mesothelioma, noise induced hearing loss, repetitive strain disorders and upper limb disorders.

• Insurance funded disputes

  Insurance funded disputes

  Jasmine regularly handles disputes involving insurers, details of which can be found in the particular areas of expertise outlined on her profile.

• Equine

  Equine

  Jasmine is part of Gatehouse Chambers’s Equine Team. She has a particular interest in equine cases due to her strong equine background as she spent many years breaking in horses and ponies in Devon.

  Jasmine acts for both claimants and defendants in Animals Act claims as well as being regularly asked to advise where a standard personal injury case has a specialized equine element – such as the effect of an injury to a dressage rider’s hand. Cases sometimes involve the valuation of an injured horse and its increased care and treatment costs.

  Jasmine regularly lectures to solicitors, livery yard owners, riding school owners and agricultural colleges on the subject of de-mystifying the Animals Act, as well as giving practical tips on how to avoid getting sued (successfully).

• Professional indemnity insurance

  Professional indemnity insurance

  Jasmine’s expertise in personal injury cases and associated issues has been picked up by firms instructed by professional indemnity insurers of personal injury solicitors. Her popularity with insurers has led to direct instructions from personal injury solicitors facing claims that fall within their deductible. Jasmine was also involved with the long-running after the event insurance litigation arising out of the collapse of The Accident Group and then the litigation known as “Son of TAG” brought by AXA against various firms of solicitors regarding their involvement with the  Composite Legal Expenses scheme.

  Jasmine regularly argues points of limitation, liability, capacity, causation and quantum in respect of professional negligence claims usually arising out of personal injury claims and is often used to settle letters of response and advise on tactics at an early stage.

  Relevant work:

  Lukos v (1) Hadfield & Co (2) Drysdales [2015], Dartford County Court
  Jasmine represented the second defendant, D, throughout this claim for damages for professional negligence brought against two firms of solicitors.  The claimant, a restauranteur was involved in a serious road traffic accident and suffered spinal injuries rendering him tetraplegic for a time.  Whilst in hospital he had entered into a power of attorney which had been executed in favour of his sister’s partner. D had acted for the claimant in relation to the power of attorney and H had acted for the attorney in relation to the sale of the claimant’s restaurant.  The claimant alleged that the attorney had dissipated the proceeds of the sale for his own purposes.  The claimant sued both defendants for negligence alleging that he did not have capacity to enter into the power of attorney and that both defendants should have known that.  He brought his claim out of time but alleged that as he lacked capacity at the relevant time he had brought his claim in time. There was a three day preliminary issue hearing on the issues of capacity and limitation.  Expert psychiatrists were called to give oral evidence and cross-examined. Eventually the claim was dismissed on the basis that the claimant had capacity and therefore, in any event, his claim was statute barred.