Dye v Riverside Health Authority – QBD 12 January 1998

Claimant: Laura Dye, 12 years

Incident: Medical negligence

Injuries: Claimant suffered brain damage as a result of medical staff failing to identify and treat meningitis shortly after birth. She is now confined to a wheelchair and has great difficulty in communicating. She functions at the level of a baby of just a few months old.

Award: £1m – £100,000 to be paid to parents of claimant for their care of her

Judge: Mr Justice Holland

Counsel for plaintiff: James Badenoch QC

Solicitors for plaintiff: Thomas Watts & Co, London

Dunn v St Bede's School – QBD 6 April 1998

Claimant: Judith Dunn, 47 years

Incident: Accident at work

Injuries: Claimant, a crafts and design technology teacher, suffered fractures to the transverse process of the lumbar vertebrae in fall at work when tripping over wooden crate at St Bede's School, Eastbourne in January 1990. She still suffers considerable pain as a result of her injury

Award: £175,000 agreed damages

Judge: Judge Anthony Marriott QC

Counsel for plaintiff: Gregory Chambers

Solicitors for plaintiff: Hart Reade & Co, Eastbourne

Wade v Cummings & ors – QBD 2 April 1998

Claimant: Scott Wade, 8 years

Incident: Medical negligence

Injuries: Claim brought on behalf of Scott Wade, whose mother Sian died in 1989 at the age of 29 from streptococcal septicaemia, a day after she had visited the accident and emergency department of Swansea's Morriston Hospital. Claim was against GPs Dr Paul Cummings and Dr DC Horsman and the hospital's manager, West Glamorgan Health Authority, which had denied liability but agreed to the settlement. The GPs, who practised in Swansea, had been criticised in relation to Mrs Wade's treatment in the days before her death. The health authority was sued for the alleged negligent failure of hospital staff to pick up on signs of Mrs Wade's deteriorating condition the day before her death.

Award: £72,000 agreed damages

Judge: Mr Justice Alliott

Counsel for plaintiff: Charles Lewis

Solicitors for plaintiff: Smith Llewelyn Partnership, Swansea