Clinical Negligence, PI, Inquests & Inquiries Newsletter

Introduction

Welcome to the Summer 2026 edition of Gatehouse Chambers’ Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Newsletter.

It has been a busy and exciting few months for the team. We are delighted that Gatehouse Chambers’ Personal Injury Team has been shortlisted for Personal Injury Set of the Year at this year’s Legal 500 Bar Awards — recognition of the team’s continued growth, breadth of work, and commitment to delivering excellent advocacy, advice and client service. We are also very pleased to celebrate Emma Zeb KC’s appointment as a Specialist Panel Member of The Football Association’s Safeguarding Review Panel, and Jake Rowley’s appointment to the Attorney General’s London C Panel of Counsel from September 2026.

As ever, this edition gives a flavour of the range of specialist work being undertaken by members of the team, from personal injury, clinical negligence, fatal accident and employers’ liability claims, to inquests, public inquiries, professional negligence, costs litigation and complex applications.

We have also enjoyed catching up with clients at recent events in chambers, including hosting an evening of suspense and intrigue at our “Betrayers” event in June (based upon the popular TV series “The Traitors”), and at our July Openhouse for South Asian Heritage Month. We were also pleased to be exhibiting at the ALARM National Conference  at the end of June; Emma Zeb KC and Senior Practice Manager Natasha Devlin-Clingham were delighted to meet clients both new and familiar.

In this issue, Colm Nugent offers a practical guide on how to give interlocutory applications the best prospects of success. Jasmine Murphy considers the Court of Appeal’s decision in Wetherell v Student Loans Company Ltd, on the continuing relevance of EU-derived workplace safety rights in pre-Brexit personal injury claims. I provide a summary of the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Sintes v London Borough of Tower Hamlets, on the limits of liability of public authorities for omissions in negligence and nuisance.

We hope you find the articles useful and, as always, we are grateful to our valued clients for their continued support.

Editor – Mark Erridge

News

Personal Injury Team Shortlisted for Legal 500 Bar Award

The Personal Injury Team at Gatehouse Chambers has been shortlisted for Personal Injury Set of the Year in this year’s Legal 500 Bar Awards, alongside the Property Team and six members who were also shortlisted. More details are  available here.

This nomination recognises the continued strength and growth of our Personal Injury Team, and, most importantly, our commitment to delivering excellent advocacy, advice and client service across the full range of personal injury work. We are grateful to our clients and professional colleagues for their continued trust, support and feedback, which has helped the team to achieve this recognition.

Emma Zeb KC appointed to The Football Association’s Safeguarding Review Panel

We are delighted to celebrate the appointment of Emma Zeb KC as a Specialist Panel Member of The Football Association’s Safeguarding Review Panel. The appointment recognises Emma’s specialist expertise and experience, with panel members involved in reviewing complex safeguarding matters, providing independent scrutiny, and making recommendations to help promote best practice. It is a significant achievement and reflects the breadth and strength of expertise within the Gatehouse Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence and Inquests and Inquiries Teams. Learn more about the appointment here, and Emma’s profile here.

Jake Rowley appointed to Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel

We are also delighted to celebrate the appointment of Jake Rowley to the Attorney General’s London C Panel of Counsel, effective from September 2026, involving a wide range of specialist legal work including high-profile government litigation alongside his day-to-day practice in chambers. This is an impressive achievement, which you can read more about here, with Jake’s profile here.

What have we been up to

Charles Bagot KC

• Advising and representing both Claimants and Defendants in a series of complex and sensitive fatal accident claims raising novel issues.
• Successfully settled a long-running birth injury claim, acting for the NHS, which raised interesting issues about the causative interplay between genetic factors and neonatal injuries.
• Continues to represent the Attorney General of the Cayman Islands defending a birth injury claim arising from an incident in one of the islands hospitals.
• Been instructed in an interesting birth injury and psychiatric injury claim being brought in Gibraltar.
• Dealing with various cases, one on appeal, testing the boundaries of the law of primary and secondary victims, in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.
• Successfully argued that costs budgeting should apply in a child’s brain injury case said to be worth more than £10m.
• Been busy in his part-time role as a Deputy High Court Judge at the Royal Courts of Justice, including handing down judgments in a clinical negligence trial about whether an admitted breach of duty in failing to administer appropriate treatment to a known alcoholic during a hospital stay for surgery triggered the onset of FND: Dickinson v Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHSFT [2026] EWHC 1574 (KB) ; and in a regulatory appeal by an Orthodontist against his erasure from the Dentists’ Register arising from treatment given to two children and claims made on YouTube about treatment outcomes: Mew v General Dental Council [2026] EWHC 1116 (Admin).
• Had some time away exploring Canada and then successfully completing his 10^th charity sea swim across the Solent from the mainland to the Isle of Wight.

Emma Zeb KC

• Looking forward to commencing work with the FA specialist safeguarding panel.
• Continuing to work on the Nottingham and Manston Inquiries and recently instructed as lead Counsel for DHSC on the Grooming Gang’s Inquiry.
• Instructed in an interesting personal injury assault case in a care facility in the Cayman Islands.
• A month of inquests in August including one representing the police following their involvement with a young woman who took her own life following allegations of domestic abuse.
• Attending the ALARM conference in Manchester with a great opportunity to meet old and new contacts and hear some excellent talks.
• Representing Bridgend CBC in the first preliminary hearing into the inquest touching the death of Logan Mwangi who was murdered by his mother and two other men.
• Some time away in the sun.

Colm Nugent

• Colm has been instructed by two different defendants to strike out claims brought under the Defective Premise Act. Colm says the DPA is one of the most misunderstood statutes, perhaps second only to the Animals Act 1974.
• In ongoing litigation Colm has drafted a schedule of loss in a tetraplegia claim valued in excess of £10m. Charles Bagot KC is also instructed in the case.
• Colm is instructed in professional negligence claim where the personal injury claim was settled for just of £500,000. An undervalue by approximately £1,000,000 on the basis of Colm’s schedule of loss.
• Colm has been instructed to pursue a Fatal Accident claim following the death of an entrepreneurial husband and father. The claim is valued in excess of £1.5m.
• Colm is instructed for a High Court trial due to take place in October in which the claimant’s primary head of loss is the diminution in value of her opticians practice as a consequence of her long-term lower limb injury. The claim value exceeds £500,000 on the basis of the schedule.

Jasmine Murphy

• Jasmine has been advising on a range of procedural matters, including second actions, limitation and capacity.
• She has also recently settled a significant brain injury case and drafted defences in several employers’ liability claims involving fatal accidents and brain injuries.

Jake Rowley

• Being appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel of Counsel (London).
• Advising the Ministry of Justice on the prospects of successfully defending a claim arising from an assault by one prisoner on another.
• Settling the Schedule of Loss and advising in a fatal accidents claim pleaded at c. £750,000.
• Continuing to advise a claimant on various aspects of his claim arising from a road traffic accident in which he sustained a brain injury.
• Finalising an article entitled ‘Fundamental Dishonesty and QOCS: Is It Time to Rethink Costs Orders After Unsuccessful Allegations of Dishonesty?’, scheduled for publication in the next edition of the Journal of Personal Injury Law (watch this space!)
• Settling the Defence and Counter Schedule of Loss in a claim where, on the Defendant’s case, the Claimant has dishonesty exaggerated her claims for special damages.
• Appearing in numerous fast, intermediate and multi-track personal injury trials and applications.

Aneurin Moloney

• Succeeded in resisting a High Court application for an expedited trial and to dispense with costs budgeting.
• Settled a long-running Fatal Accidents Act case on behalf of the Claimant for £200,000.
• Settled an optician’s negligence case on behalf of a young claimant on favourable terms.
• On behalf of the Defendant NHS Health Board, secured the Claimant’s discontinuance of their cauda equina syndrome case shortly before trial.

Emma Woods

• Assisting Charles Bagot KC with drafting a Permission to Appeal Skeleton Argument concerning whether a Claimant has a more than merely arguable prospect of successfully bringing a claim as a primary victim.
• Assisting Charles Bagot KC with updating the Chapters in Kemp & Kemp concerning Employer’s Liability and Fatal Accidents.
• Drafting Defences, including in respect of an accident at work and clinical negligence claims in respect of diagnosis and treatment of eczema and acne, and treatment of metatarsus adductus (foot condition).
• Drafting a Defence and Counter Schedule in respect of personal injury claim for an accident at work.
• Advising the Claimant on Quantum in a claim arising out of falls in a care home which resulted in the Deceased suffering a femur fracture and a brain injury.

Charlotte Wilk

• Charlotte has been advising in a number of ongoing dental negligence matters, as well as her usual roster of personal injury advices, pleadings, and application hearings.
• Personal Injury CCMCs have enabled Charlotte to visit Margate and other coastal towns for the first time during the heatwave.
• Charlotte has been busy for over two months on a large-scale disclosure review in a complex fraud matter.
• Four reported judgments have now been made publicly available in Charlotte’s unled costs trial against leading counsel in the High Court (SCCO) in Hulley Enterprises Limited v The Russian Federation; Charlotte reduced the Bill of Costs by c.£669,000.

Mark Erridge

• Continuing to act (led by Emma Zeb KC) for a core participant in the Nottingham Inquiry.
• Appearing in a number of PI Fast Track and Small Claim trials involving personal injury for and against insurers.
• Drafting Particulars of Claim, Defences, and Advices for a variety of personal injury matters involving accidents.
• Acting for a Defendant company in an application to set aside default judgment in an Animals Act personal injury claim arising from an alleged dog bite (with a cross-application to authorise service under CPR 6.15).

Ten ways to give your interlocutory application the very best chances of success

This article by Colm Nugent offers a practical guide to improving the prospects of success on interlocutory applications. Drawing on the wide range of applications available under the CPR, including strike out, further particulars and disclosure applications, the article emphasises the importance of approaching applications from the court’s perspective, addressing the Overriding Objective, ensuring proportionality, involving counsel early, keeping evidence concise and factual, and confronting issues of prejudice, cost and litigation impact head-on. It is a useful reminder that well-judged interlocutory applications can provide an important tactical and procedural advantage in litigation.

Read more

European Law directly applied to pre-Brexit personal injury claim: Wetherell v Student Loans Company Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 645

This article by Jasmine Murphy considers the Court of Appeal’s decision in Wetherell v Student Loans Company Ltd, which addresses whether EU-derived workplace safety rights could be relied upon directly in a pre-Brexit personal injury claim where domestic statutory remedies had been curtailed. The case is of particular interest in employers’ liability claims involving defective work equipment, especially where the defendant may be an emanation of the state.

Read more

Public Authorities, Omissions and the Limits of Liability: Sintes v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2026] EWCA Civ 752

This article by Mark Erridge considers the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Sintes v London Borough of Tower Hamlets and considers its significance for personal injury practitioners pursuing claims against public authorities in negligence and nuisance based upon breach of licensing and regulatory powers, and omissions.

Read more

Contact us

If you would like to discuss any of the topics in this newsletter, please contact the team at steam@gatehouselaw.co.uk or get in touch with one of our Practice Managers below.

To find out more about our Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury Team and their work, visit the Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury page on our website. To view a copy of our privacy statement, please click here.

This edition of the PI & Clinical Negligence newsletter was edited by Mark Erridge. Comments or queries about this newsletter? Please get in touch with him.

If you are reading this but do not receive our mailings and would like to, please click here.