The appellant care worker fell in snow when visiting the respondent’s client at home. At issue was the admission and status of expert or skilled evidence.
Held: Mrs Kennedy’s appeal succeeded. ‘There are in our view four considerations which govern the admissibility of skilled evidence:
(i) whether the proposed skilled evidence will assist the court in its task;
(ii) whether the witness has the necessary knowledge and experience;
(iii) whether the witness is impartial in his or her presentation and assessment of the evidence; and
(iv) whether there is a reliable body of knowledge or experience to underpin the expert’s evidence.’
Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Wilson, Lord Reed, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge
[2016] UKSC 6, [2016] WLR(D) 74, [2016] PIQR P9, 2016 GWD 4-97, 2016 SCLR 203, (2016) 149 BMLR 17, [2016] ICR 325, 2016 SLT 209, [2016] 1 WLR 597, 2016 SC (UKSC) 59, UKSC 2014/0247
Bailii, Bailii Summary, WLRD, SC, SC summary
Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992, Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
Scotland
Citing:
Cited – Gibson v Pollock 1848
The court admitted evidence of practice in dog coursing to determine whether the owner or nominator of a dog was entitled to a prize on its success. . .
Cited – Morton v William Dixon Ltd IHCS 19-Mar-1909
Lord President Dunedin set out the liability of an employer: ‘Where the negligence of the employer consists of what I may call a fault of omission, I think it is absolutely necessary that the proof of that fault of omission should be one of two . .
Cited – Regina v Bonython 1984
(South Australia Supreme Court) The court considered the basis for deciding whether a proposed witness was an expert.
Held: It is for the judge to determine whether a witness is competent to give evidence as an expert and for that purpose . .
Cited – Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman and others HL 8-Feb-1990
Limitation of Loss from Negligent Mis-statement
The plaintiffs sought damages from accountants for negligence. They had acquired shares in a target company and, relying upon the published and audited accounts which overstated the company’s earnings, they purchased further shares.
Held: The . .
At Outer House – Kennedy v Cordia (Services) Llp SCS 7-Aug-2013
Outer House – damages after carer’s fall in snow.
Held: The Outer House found Cordia liable under the PPE Regulations, the Management Regulations, and the common law. Both risk assessments for Cordia had been faulty.
Lord McEwan . .
Approved – Myers v The Queen PC 6-Oct-2015
Bermuda – three appeals against conviction raising similar, although not identical, questions concerning the admissibility and proper ambit of evidence as to the existence and practices of gangs and the defendant’s connections with them.
Held: . .
Cited – Kennedy v Cordia (Services) Llp SCS 19-Sep-2014
The respondent, Mrs Kennedy was working for the reclaimers as a carer. She had been injured walking up a snowy client’s path. The reclaimer appealed against an award for damages after a finding that she should have been provided with grips for her . .
Cited – Davie v Magistrates of Edinburgh 1953
Issues arose in relation to the expert evidence which had been led.
Held: The court rejected a submission that, where no counter evidence on the science in question had been adduced for the pursuer, the Court was bound to accept the . .
Cited – Regina v Turner (Terence) CACD 1974
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder. He admitted that he had killed his girlfriend with a hammer, but sought to bring psychiatric evidence that he was susceptible to provocation.
Held: The law jealously guards the role of . .
Cited – Coopers (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd v Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Schadlingsbekampfung mbH 1976
(Supreme Court of South Africa (Appellate Division)) Wessels JA said: ‘[A]n expert’s opinion represents his reasoned conclusion based on certain facts or data, which are either common cause, or established by his own evidence or that of some other . .
Cited – Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc 28-Jun-1993
United States Supreme Court – The court considered the Federal Rules of Evidence in the use of expert or skilled evidence: ‘If scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to . .
Cited – Dingley v The Chief Constable, Strathclyde Police 1998
The court was asked whether the development of multiple sclerosis had been caused by physical injury sustained in a motor accident. Medical science was not able to demonstrate the connection between the two, and reliance was placed on . .
Cited – Field and Another v Leeds City Council CA 8-Dec-1999
The parties were involved in a dispute as to repairs on a tenanted property. The court had ordered an independent surveyor’s report. The claimant objected to the use by the defendant of an employee for this purpose, and was involved in their claims . .
Cited – Toth v Jarman CA 19-Jul-2006
The claimant appealed dismissal of his claim for damages for nervous shock, associated with the alleged negligence of the defendant doctor in treating his son. It was said that the medical expert had not disclosed a conflict of interest.
Held: . .
Cited – Pora v Regina PC 3-Mar-2015
Court of Appeal of New Zealand – the defendant appealed against his conviction (after two trials) for rape and murder. He said that hos confession should not have been admitted, being unreliable, and that evidence should have been admitted that . .
Cited – National Justice Compania Naviera S A v Prudential Assurance Company Ltd (‘The Ikarian Reefer’) 1993
Cresswell J spoke of the nature of the duty owed by expert witnesses: ‘The duties and responsibilities of expert witnesses in civil cases include the following:
1. Expert evidence presented to the Court should be, and should be seen to be, the . .
Cited – Mearns v Smedvig Limited and others SCS 25-Nov-1998
‘A party seeking to lead a witness with purported knowledge or experience outwith generally recognised fields would need to set up by investigation and evidence not only the qualifications and expertise of the individual skilled witness, but the . .
Cited – Main v McAndrew Wormald Ltd 1988
. .
Cited – Regina v Gilfoyle CACD 20-Dec-2000
The evidence of a psychological autopsy was not admissible in court proceedings. The field was not one with sufficiently established evidence of value and standards to allow it properly to be assessed. If it were allowed on behalf of the defence in . .
Cited – McTear v Imperial Tobacco Ltd OHCS 31-May-2005
The pursuer sought damages after her husband’s death from lung cancer. She said that the defenders were negligent in having continued to sell him cigarettes knowing that they would cause this.
Held: The action failed. The plaintiff had not . .
Cited – Young v Her Majesty’s Advocate HCJ 15-Nov-2013
The Court refused to admit evidence of ‘case linkage analysis’ because it was the subject of only relatively recent academic research and a methodology which was not yet sufficiently developed that it could be treated as reliable. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Health and Safety, Personal Injury, Evidence
Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.560126
