Sue Brown
Susan Brown qualified as a solicitor in 1996, and was a partner and Head of Personal Injury at niche West End litigation firm Reid Minty until 2003, when she moved to the in-house legal team for Royal&SunAlliance.
She was with Prolegal from 2007 to June 2016 as Head of Personal Injury and Professional Negligence. She is now a mediator and a director of Claims Portal and Medco.
Sue has specialised in personal injury, clinical negligence and professional negligence claims for over 20 years and has a particular interest in asbestos disease claims and in complex psychiatric injury claims. She has handled a wide range of professional negligence claims including against solicitors, surveyors, architects and accountants.
Sue talks and makes regular published contributions in the legal and national press on issues of personal injury, professional negligence, costs and funding.
Sue was Chair of the Motor Accidents Solicitors Society from 2014 to 2016 and is an APIL Senior Litigator.
Practice Area
Panels
- Consulting Editorial Board
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 1996
Membership
- MASS Executive Committee
- APIL
- Claims Portal Board
- PNLA
- CPD Assessor for the SRA
- The Law Society
- Consumer Justice Alliance Executive Committee
9 Contributions by Sue Brown
PRACTICE NOTES
Assessing damages in NIHL and tinnitus claims: JCG ranges, attribution methods, comparator authorities, hearing aid costs and other special damages, plus IIDB/AFCS entitlements
Within this Practice Note, noise-induced hearing loss is abbreviated to NIHL. It outlines the considerations that influence the assessment of general damages in NIHL matters, including Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), analogous earlier court judgments, and the severity of auditory impairment. The Note further addresses particular categories of special damages commonly applicable in such claims, the disablement benefit that a claimant might seek for hearing loss and/or tinnitus, together with alternative compensation schemes under which a claimant could make a claim. It also notes the extent of the hearing loss considered here...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
EL/PL low-value personal injury portal: Stage 2 settlement packs, interim payments, negotiations, exits and Stage 3 PD 49F procedure, child claims and limitation (England and Wales)
This Practice Note summarises the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury (Employers’ Liability and Public Liability) Claims (the EL/PL protocol) from Stage 2 of the process onwards. For guidance on Stage 1, see Practice Note: EL/PL claims in the portal—a practical guide (Stage 1).
The Portal
The Portal, initially launched for road traffic accident (RTA) claims on 30 April 2010, was extended on 31 July 2013 to include Employers’ Liability (EL) and Public Liability (PL) claims. For direction on when the EL/PL protocol applies, see Practice Note: The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury (Employers' Liability and Public Liability) Claims.
Stage 2 Medical reports
In order to commence Stage 2, the claimant (C) requires a medical report to proceed. The EL/PL protocol provides that ‘it is expected that most claimants will obtain a medical report from one expert but additional reports may be obtained from other experts where the injuries require reports from more than one medical discipline’ (para 7.2). The medical expert should also specify the medical records considered relevant to the claim, and the ‘Claimant Representative’ (CR) should then disclose those relevant records to the ‘Compensator’ (Comp) with the medical report (para 7.4). Any relevant photographs...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
Limitation in Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Sections 14 and 33, Date of Knowledge, Constructive Knowledge and Key Case Law (England and Wales)
Limitation
Limitation frequently arises in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) cases. Typical claimants were exposed to workplace noise far more than three years before approaching a solicitor about a claim. Consequently, they are often beyond the primary three-year personal injury period and must rely on the alternative date of knowledge in section 11(4)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980).
Under LA 1980, section 14, the date of knowledge is the date the person first knew:
that the injury was significant;
that the injury was caused, in whole or in part, by the act or omission alleged to constitute negligence, nuisance or breach of duty;
and the defendant’s identity.
Whether those acts or omissions did or did not, as a matter of law, involve negligence, nuisance or breach of duty is irrelevant...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
Noise-induced hearing loss at work: evolution of statutory and common law duties, exposure limits and key cases, 1963–present, including the 1989/2005 Regulations and ERRA 2013
Since 1963, when workplace noise was first officially acknowledged as an issue, the law has undergone a series of changes. Being familiar with these developments is vital when evaluating the likelihood of success for an individual claim, and when preparing letters of claim and statements of case. As most NIHL claimants experience noise exposure over many years, it is commonly necessary to plead separate breaches for distinct periods of exposure.
Statutory duty
Historical versions of legislation can be requested by Lexis+® UK Legal Research subscribers here. Section 29 of the Factories Act 1961 (formerly section 5 of the Factories Act 1959) imposes a duty, so far as is reasonably practicable, to make and keep an employee’s place of work safe...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
Noise-induced hearing loss: medico-legal audiology glossary for occupational and personal injury claims
Air conduction (AC)
Sound is carried through the outer and middle ear before reaching the inner ear. A standard audiogram evaluates hearing via air conduction.
Age-associated hearing loss (AAHL)
Also termed presbycusis, this age-related hearing loss arises chiefly from ageing and usually impacts both ears to an equal extent.
Air-bone gap (ABG)
The value obtained by subtracting the HTL from the bone conduction reading from the HTL of the air conduction reading.
Audiogram
A pure tone audiogram is a graph of an individual’s hearing threshold levels for pure tones across different frequencies, displaying loss as a function of frequency, measured with an audiometer.
Audiometer
Pure tone audiometer — an electroacoustic instrument. For air conduction tests it uses a headset with two earphones delivering pure tones of specified frequencies at known sound pressure levels to establish hearing thresholds, one ear at a time. For bone conduction measurement the audiometer also includes a bone vibrator.
Manual audiometer — an audiometer in which signal presentation, choice of frequency and hearing level, and noting the subject’s responses are all performed manually...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
Resources and protocols for tracing historic employers and employers’ liability insurers in NIHL claims
This Practice Note offers practical direction on locating defendants and insurers in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) proceedings. In most NIHL matters, the exposure to noise that produced the auditory injury happened decades earlier. Workplaces may have shut, transferred ownership, businesses dissolved or been absorbed by other organisations, and at times even an online search reveals nothing about the claimant’s previous employer. In truth, finding the employer is frequently only the crucial opening step. If that entity has ceased trading, the insurer on risk during the claimant’s employment must then be identified and notified accordingly. A number of practical tools and resources can help when tracking defendants and insurers.
HMRC schedule
In virtually all NIHL cases, it is vital to secure the claimant’s employment history from HMRC. A request should be submitted using the HMRC employment history form. HMRC will supply the name of the claimant’s employer for each tax year as far back as 1961/1962. The HMRC schedule ought to be shown to the former employer or their insurer as proof of the claimant’s employment where the employer’s own archives do not extend that far. It is a requirement of the Pre-Action Protocol for Disease and Illness Claims that the...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
RTA Low-Value Personal Injury Portal: Practical Guide to Stage 2–3, MedCo, Interim Payments, Settlement Packs, Negotiation and CPR PD 49F (England and Wales)
The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents
This Practice Note provides a hands-on summary of the key elements of Stage 2 and 3 of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents, together with an examination of leading case law and the practical consequences for those operating within the online portal.
Note: The Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims Below the Small Claims Limit in Road Traffic Accidents (the RTA Small Claims Protocol) applies to accidents occurring on or after 31 May 2021 where the sum claimed for injuries is not more than £5,000 and the total value of the claim is not more than £10,000. The small claims track limit for personal injury claims arising from a road traffic accident is £5,000 for damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA), subject to specified exceptions. For more on the RTA Small Claims Protocol, including when it does not apply, see Practice Note: The road traffic accident small claims protocol and The RTA small claims protocol—key features checklist...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
Stage 1 of the EL/PL Low-Value Personal Injury Claims Portal: Scope, CNF, Time Limits, Insurer Responses, Admissions and Limitation (England and Wales)
This Practice Note sets out a summary of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury (Employers’ Liability and Public Liability) Claims (the EL/PL protocol), with a particular emphasis on Stage 1 of the process. For direction on the later phases, refer to Practice Note: EL/PL claims in the portal—a practical guide (Stage 2 onwards).
The Portal
Initially introduced on 30 April 2010 for road traffic accident (RTA) matters, the Portal was broadened on 31 July 2013 to include Employers’ Liability (EL) and Public Liability (PL) claims. See Practice Note: The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury (Employers' Liability and Public Liability) Claims.
The Portal is managed by Claims Portal Limited (CPL), a not-for-profit organisation with a board of 17 non-executive directors, chaired by an independent chair. The board is evenly constituted, with eight claimant stakeholders and eight insurer representatives, nominated by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), the Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS), the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Law Society (on behalf of claimants) and insurers.
The Portal’s sole function is to offer an electronic channel for parties to navigate the stages of the EL/PL protocol. Those who use the Portal are ‘Claimant Representatives’ (CR) (firms of solicitors authorised by...
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
Stage 1 of the RTA Pre-Action Protocol: Practical Guide to the Claims Portal, CNFs, askCUE PI checks and insurer responses (England and Wales)
The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents
This Practice Note sets out a concise overview of the main elements of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (the RTA protocol), alongside practical guidance on how to use the claims portal...
Note: The Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims Below the Small Claims Limit in Road Traffic Accidents (the RTA Small Claims Protocol) applies to incidents on or after 31 May 2021 where the injury damages sought do not exceed £5,000 and the total value of the claim does not exceed £10,000. The small claims track limit for personal injury arising from an RTA is £5,000 for damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, subject to specified exceptions. For more on the RTA Small Claims Protocol, including when it does not apply, see Practice Note: The road traffic accident small claims protocol and The RTA small claims protocol—key features checklist. This Practice Note concentrates on the Portal for RTA claims pursued under the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents...
PI & Clinical Negligence
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