3 Hare Court
2 Experts
3 Contributions by 3 Hare Court Experts
PRACTICE NOTES
This Practice Note outlines the routes for personal injury redress for injured serving and ex-service members, embracing claims founded on statute as well as compensation schemes under domestic law and the European Convention on Human Rights. It considers claims arising from incidents in combat operations and training, plus specific conditions including non-freezing cold injury, noise-induced hearing loss, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychiatric harm related to bullying or harassment, and parading injuries.
The history and suspension of Crown immunity
It is helpful to examine the evolution of the law governing military claims closely.
Until 1987, section 10 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (CPA 1947) barred service personnel from pursuing any civil actions against the Crown for death or personal injury attributable to other members within the British Armed Forces. Sections 1 and 2 of the Crown Proceedings (Armed Forces) Act 1987 (CP(AF)A 1987) state that CPA 1947, s 10 is
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
The principal source consulted by medicolegal specialists and the courts when diagnosing noise‑induced hearing loss (NIHL) is Coles, Lutman and Buffin’s ‘Guidelines on the diagnosis of noise‑induced hearing loss for medicolegal purposes’, issued in April 2000 (the CLB Guidelines). The same authors subsequently produced the ‘Guidelines for Quantification of Noise‑Induced Hearing Loss in a Medicolegal Context’ in 2015 (the LCB Guidelines), as the CLB document addressed diagnosis only and could not be used to quantify NIHL. Both sets of guidance are reviewed in this Practice Note, which also touches briefly on the ‘Guidelines for Diagnosing and Quantifying Noise‑Induced Hearing Loss’ by Moore, Lowe and Cox, published in 2022 (the rM‑NIHL Guidelines).
The 2000 CLB Guidelines
NIHL claims are challenging because demonstrating that a claimant:
was exposed to hazardous workplace noise, and
has hearing impairment
is insufficient, on its own, to satisfy a court that
PI & Clinical Negligence
PRACTICE NOTES
STOP PRESS
This Practice Note is currently undergoing routine quality control to uphold accuracy and reliability. An audiogram is a chart displaying the sounds an individual can hear and, in noise‑induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims, it is used to assess a claimant’s hearing capability. It is a key diagnostic tool for identifying hearing loss. Practitioners should also review the claimant’s medical and employment records to consider whether alternative causes, such as medication, hobbies or medical conditions, might account for any loss.
Basic pointers on audiograms
Competence in reading and interpreting audiograms is vital for both claimant and defendant practitioners in NIHL cases. Where an audiogram does not indicate NIHL, the claimant’s solicitor should make clear that no claim can be pursued. The claimant will usually have had an audiogram conducted by their GP, their employer, or both. An audiogram typically comprises one or two sheets in graph form,
PI & Clinical Negligence
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