John McDonald

Call: 1981

Arbitrator

Expertise

Personal Injury
Insurance & Reinsurance
International Arbitration & Projects
Professional Negligence

Appointments

Chartered Arbitrator (2002)

Practice Profile

John’s practice focuses on personal injury, professional negligence and construction law.  He joined chambers having previously qualified as a Solicitor with Honours. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Chartered Arbitrator.

John is recommended for Personal Injury in Chambers and Partners 2010 Directory.  He “scores well because of his ‘awareness of his clients’ philosophies and tactics’.  Solicitors flock to him, as ‘he displays a willingness to work in partnership …’”

 

Personal Injury

Long experience of all areas of personal injury law, with particular expertise in:

 

Asbestos claims:

·                 Instructed in over 200 asbestos-related cases by firms including ASB Law, Browne Jacobson, CLM,  DWF, Langleys, Mackrell Turner Garrett, Rollingsons, Tayntons, Thring Townsend, Watmores & Wragge & Co.

 

Health & Safety:

·                 Instructed by Greenwoods, Buller Jeffries, Plexus & others in many inquests and health and safety prosecutions. 

 

Stress & Bullying:

·                 Instructed for defendants in many such cases.

 

Other:

·         Instructed in many other personal injury cases, including industrial disease (eg deafness, dermatitis & WRULD), paraplegia & brain damage cases, quantification of complex loss of earnings cases.  Accepts  instructions from claimants on conditional fee basis.

 

 

Insurance & Reinsurance

Particular interest and expertise in motor insurance.  Member of the 2 Temple Gardens MIB Team.  Advised on redrafting of MIB Hong Kong Agreements.  Instructed in many cases by Berrymans Lace Mawer, Browne Jacobson, DWF, Greenwoods, Kennedys, Norwich Union, RSA, St. Paul Travelers, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, Weightmans & others.

 

International Arbitration & Projects

Wide experience of most areas of practice in the construction field, including delay and disruption claims, defects claims, tree root cases, and other work with a technical content.  Particular interest in cases involving complex financial or quantity surveying evidence, his experience includes ICC arbitrations with hearings in Egypt, Tunisia and several European countries as well as the UK.  Instructed on behalf of both employers and contractors, in cases before the Technology and Construction Court, arbitrators (both domestic and international) and adjudicators.  Such cases have involved civil and marine engineering projects, as well as office and industrial building developments.

 

Professional Negligence

Professional negligence of solicitors, as well as engineers, architects and other construction professionals.  Particular interest in fiduciary duties of solicitors and in liability of loss adjusters.

Notable Cases

R. v. Faulkner Gates Limited & others (2009, ongoing) [Bournemouth Crown Court & Court of Appeal – Complex multiparty HSE prosecution:  Important points of principle.]  (Instructed by Greenwoods).

England v. Foster Wheeler (Lawtel, August 2009) [Sheffield County Court:  Asbestos claim – distinction between diffuse pleural thickening and pleural plaques.]  (Instructed by Langleys & Rollits).

Shapoor v. Promo Design & MIB (Lawtel, May 2009) [Romford County Court:  Construction of MIB Uninsured Drivers Agreement and section 154 RTA] (Instructed by DWF).

McCall v Poulton & MIB [2009] RTR 11 [Appeal to Court of Appeal re Reference to ECJ on recoverability of credit hire charges under MIB Uninsured Drivers Agreement.] (Instructed by Weightmans).

Singh v. O’Shea [2009] EWHC 1251 (QB) (Lawtel) [High Court – Appeal re admission of further medical evidence where unfavourable video surveillance evidence] (Instructed by Plexus).

R. v. Just Learning Limited (February 2009) [Cambridge Crown Court – Complex local authority prosecution of day nursery company re death of child in choking incident].  (Instructed by Greenwoods).

O’Brien v. Day & MIB (January 2009) [Carlisle County Court – Exclusion of passenger’s claim under Clause 6 of MIB Uninsured Drivers Agreement] (Instructed by DWF).

Taiwo v. Community Links (November 2008) [Leeds County Court – claimant estopped from bringing stress claim by previous Employment Tribunal claim] (Instructed by DWF).

Ur Rehman v. Aldi (October 2008) [Birmingham County Court – Resisted very large credit hire claim].  (Instructed by Browne Jacobson).

Mitchell v. Wright & MIB/Rolland v. Muralytharan & MIB (May 2008) [Manchester County Court – Recoverability of credit hire charges under MIB Uninsured Drivers Agreement].  (Instructed by Weightmans).

Jones v Thornton (May 2007):  [Derby County Court – Exclusion of stress claim by agreement compromising Employment Tribunal and other claims].  (Instructed by DWF).

Hall & Richards v Merthyr Tydfil BC (2007) [TCC Cardiff - Landslip/subsidence case involving liability of local authorities] (Instructed by Dolmans)

Nias v Hampshire County Council (January 2007) [Winchester CC -  Bullying, stress claim]  (Instructed by Hampshire CC).

Stephens v Anderson Firmin & Collins (December 2006) [Swindon County Court - Limitation in asbestosis/diffuse pleural thickening case].  (Instructed by Charles Lucas & Marshall).

Woodward v Carillion (November 2006) [High Court, Birmingham - Contribution to mesothelioma claim from co-insured.] (Instructed by Langleys)

Mincher v Leaper (September 2006) [Leeds County Court - Definition of “motor vehicle” under Road Traffic Act] (Instructed by Weightmans).

Dahele v Bates (September 2006) [High Court -  Quantification of high value lost years mesothelioma claim.]  (Instructed by Watmores)

Noble v Hurst & MIB (February 2006) [High Court, Nottingham - MIB Clause 6/permissibility of withdrawal of Part 36 Offer]  (Instructed by Greenwoods).

Offer-Hoar v Larkstore & Technotrade Limited (2006) [TCC: Complex landslip/subsidence case involving issues of assignments and the law of nuisance] (Instructed by Beachcroft Wansbroughs)

Western Morning News Co. v Bovis Construction Limited (2003) [TCC: TCC: Product liability case re nickel sulphide inclusions in glass office complex. Issues re duties of care, limitation, and warranties] (Instructed by Reed Smith Warner Cranston)

D.J. & C. Withers (Farms) Limited v Ambic Equipment Limited [2002] 3 All ER 385 [Court of Appeal: Product liability; hydraulic milking machine allegedly causing mastitis in dairy cows] (Instructed by Sheridans)

Day v Cook [2001] Ll. Rep. (PN) 551 [Court of Appeal: Solicitor’s negligence; solicitor’s breach of fiduciary duty; solicitor advising on property transactions in which he had an interest] (Instructed by Gaynor-Smith, Owen)

An Arbitration (2000 – 2001) (ICC Arbitration: Representing Government of African country in £39 million claim in respect of road building project; Ethiopian proper law; 4 week hearing in Tunis, with other hearings in London, Paris and Zurich] (Instructed by Shadbolt & Co.)

An Arbitration (1998 – 2000) (ICC Arbitration: Representing French building company in £9 million claim in respect of reconstruction of hotel complex in Cairo; Egyptian proper law; two hearings in Cairo, with other hearings in London and Brussels] (Instructed by Shadbolt & Co.)

Try v Blue Star Garages (1998) 66 Con LR 90 [TCC: Summary judgment; set off; liability of guarantor; construction of new football stadium for Portsmouth FC] (Instructed by Simmons & Simmons).

Hopewell Holdings v Ewbank Preece [1998] Ll. Rep. 448 [TCC: Insurance; possibility of subrogated claim against co-insured to bring subrogated claim] (Instructed by Kennedys)

Hurst v Hampshire CC [1997] 2 EGLR 164 [Court of Appeal: Tree roots; liability of highway authority for highway tree] (Instructed by C.A. Norris).

Additional Information

Previous Positions

·                 Formerly as Solicitor:  Articled with Simmons & Simmons, admitted with Honours in 1979.

 

Affiliations

·                 Personal Injury Bar Association (PIBA)

·                 Professional Negligence Bar Association (PNBA)

·                 Technology & Construction Bar Association (TECBAR)

·                 Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Fellow)

·                 Royal Society of Arts (Fellow)

·                 Western Circuit

 

Publications

·                 Giving Reasons for Decisions:  All England Legal Opinion Sept. 2002

·                 Contractors’ Duty to Warn:  Tolley’s Construction Newsletter December 2002

·                 Personal Injury Updates: New Law Journal 2002 - 2005

·                 The Duties of Loss Adjusters: On Duty May 2005

·                 Lesotho Highlands:  Friend or foe to International Arbitration

·                 Surviving Fatal Accidents:  A practitioner’s guide to recovery under the Act

·                 Smoking, Asbestos & Lung Cancer: Can the decision in Badger v. MOD survive Barker?Personal Injury Law Journal November 2006

·                 Information Access – the archeology of insurance:  Personal Injury Law Journal April 2007

·                 Harassment – How bad does it have to be?  Injury Times May 2008

·                 Negative declarations – the best defence …:  Personal Injury Law Journal June 2009

 

Lectures

·                 Has lectured on: Bullying at work and in school;  Fatal Accidents Act;  Liability of loss adjusters;  Co-Insurance: Problems and Solutions;  Disclosability of metadata;  SCL delay and disruption protocol;  Drafting pleadings in construction claims;  Product liability in the construction industry;  Arbitration law update; Asbestos Litigation; Article 75 and uninsured drivers;  EU Motor Insurance Directives;  Car Accidents in Europe.

 

Languages

·                 Good written and spoken French

·                 Some Turkish.