Decisions are taken from Lawtel's legal database. LTL: Lawtel report; TLR: Times

Law Reports; ILR: Independent Law Report.

Bateman v Industrial Orthopaedic Society – QBD 6 October 1997

Claimant: John Bateman, 5Incident: Medical negligence

Injuries: Widower's claim in respect of death of wife, 41-year-old Christine Bateman, in December 1991. Bateman admitted to the Manor House Hospital, Golders Green, London, in February 1988, with a history of lower abdominal pain, but despite tests it was not until 15 months later that she was diagnosed as suffering from bowel cancer. Contended in court that if correct diagnosis had been made when Bateman was initially admitted, surgery could have been carried out and she would not have died. She was re-admitted to hospital in 1990 and, despite treatment from then on, died leaving her husband, a son and a daughter

Award: £72,27Judge: Mr Justice Alliott

Plaintiff's counsel: Charles Lewis

Plaintiff's solicitor: Sternberg Reed Taylor & Gill

Davidson v Vange Scaffolding & Engineering Company & anor – QBD 8 October 1997

Claimant: Jean Davidson, 52

Incident: Fatal accident at work

Injuries: Widow's claim in respect of death of Alan Davidson, 44, who was killed in fall in 1991 from scaffolding at Tilbury Power Station. He suffered injuries to his pelvis, and internal injuries to his spleen and liver, which resulted in his death in hospital from a pulmonary embolism 15 days after the accident

Award: £100,000 (agreed damages)

Judge: Judge Brunning

Plaintiff's counsel: Brian Gallagher

Plaintiff's solicitor: Clifford & Co

Young v The Estate of Steven John Gough – QBD 8 October 1997

Claimant: Robert Young, 5Incident: Road traffic accident

Injuries: Claimant received severe facial injuries after car in which he was passenger crashed, killing the driver whose estate was sued. After accident claimant was left suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder which was said to be so severe that he had alienated most of his family and friends and had had to give up his job after suffering a nervous breakdown. He was described in court as having once been an "ambitious, outgoing and popular" person but said to have undergone a radical personality change. His counsel told the judge that he was an unhappy man who had little, if any, of the joie de vivre he had before the accident

Award: £226,000 (agreed damages)

Judge: Judge John Hamilton

Plaintiff's counsel: Raymond Croxon QC

Plaintiff's solicitor: Khilkoff-Boulding & Co