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Home  >  Barristers  >  Andrew Ritchie QC
 
Andrew Ritchie QC

Call: 1985   Silk: 2009
Appointments: Queen's Counsel., Executive Committee of the Personal Injuries Bar Association 2005-2007, 2009- contuning., The Legal Service Committee Appeal panel 1999 – 2002 [LSC]., Executive Committee of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers 1996 - 1999., Fellow of APIL.
Education: MA Law, Magdalene College, Cambridge, Qualified as a solicitor 1982, Called to the bar in 1985,

Practice Summary

  • Personal Injury
  • Clinical Negligence
  • Professional Negligence (PI Related)
 

Memberships

  • Personal Injury Bar Association
  • Professional Negligence Bar Association
  • Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
 
   

Andrew  won "PI Barrister of the year 2008" (Barker Brooks Awards) and was nominated as “PI Junior of the Year” in 2007 and again in 2008 by Chambers & Partners.





Areas of Practice



Andrew's practice is 2/3rds personal injury and 1/3rd clinical negligence. His PI practice covers occupational health (mesothelioma and asbestosis) and employers liability generally, he has extensive experience in cases involving brain damage, spinal injuries and Motor Insurers Bureau claims.



He is a leading practitioner in Clinical Negligence (in particular Hypoxia at birth, Urology, Cardiology, neurosurgery).



Commentaries



Recommended in Chambers & Partners  guide to the legal profession 2009:

Fellow professionals have commented on Andrew as follows:



2004 edition:

"technically sound, covers a diversity of cases having a particular interest in spinal injuries and Motor Insurers Bureau cases".



2005 edition:

"very bright and efficient, Andrew Ritchie is noted for his MIB expertise".



2006 edition:

"leading junior", and "has a flair for motor-related work". Admirers pointed to his "good sense of humour" and "ability to push at the edges and examine all the angles of a case."



2007 edition:

"tough yet friendly" and "one of the best on his feet …"

he earns Kudos for being "incredibly straight" and "someone you now where you stand with."



2008 edition:

Recommended in Chambers & Partners  guide to the legal profession 2008: Classified as a grade 1 leading junior.



2009 edition:

"Andrew Ritchie is a safe pair of hands with all round expertise especially when it comes to MIB matters"



2010 edition:

"An extremely astute barrister of undoubtedly high calibre" he "offers a guarantee of excellence."



Recommended in the  Legal 500 UK Client's Guide to the Legal Profession 2008:

as a Grade 1 leading junior.  Fellow professionals commented as follows:



2006 edition:

"the accomplished and unflappable editor of Kemp and Kemp".



2007 edition:

"He is tenacious, meticulous and understated, ... simply he is extraordinarily good all round."



2008 edition:

" ... has outstanding technical knowledge allied to "tough forensic skills" and a "personable and decisive approach"”.



 

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Cases












Personal Injury




Streets v Esso [2009] QBD Lawtel, £315,000 Fatal award for widow of mesothelioma victim.


X v MIB [2009] representing brain injured child. Settled for £1.3 million plus PPOS of £32,000 rising to £70,000 for care and case management.

Morjaria v Samwell [2009]  representing brilliant Cambridge graduate knocked off her bike by a lorry. PTSD and severe pelvic degloving and knee injuires.  Loss of career in investment banking.  Settled at mediation for £2 million.


Thomas v Merck Sharpe & Dohme [2008] HHJ O'Brien, 1.12.2008, successful action for pensioner who suffered ulcerative colitis whilst taking part in a drugs trial of Rofecoxib (a Vioxx derivative NSAID).   


Corr v IBC  [2008] UKHL 13, representing the successful Claimant in her Fatal Accident Act claim arising from the suicide of her husband caused by the Defendant’s negligence 6 years earlier. Employers liability, kind of harm, forseeability and causation. Click here to listen to Andrew's podcast regarding this case.

Purdue v Port Line [2008] QBD, Master Whitaker, living mesthelioma sufferer, summary judgment obtained against “bluewater” shipowners, on the basis that they had land based shipwrights. Date of knowledge 1955 of dangers from asbestos.

Berry v Ford [2007] QBD, acting for the successful Claimant, settlement, damages £500,000, 2 accidents at work, leading to fused ankle and dystonia.

Winters v Haq
[2007] Leicester QBD, acting for the successful Claimant, above the knee amputation in RTA, prosthetic leg, settlement of £700,000.

Horch v Thames Trains
[2007] QBD; for the successful Claimant. Damages £1.5 million.  Horrific burns & PTSD sustained in the Paddington Rail crash.

Phillips v Motor Insurers Bureau
 [2007] EWCA Civ 74, Times, February 21, 2007. Fatal accident claim, interpretation of the Uninsured Drivers Agreement 1999 - the successful widow of the deceased could claim damages from the MIB despite her husband knowing that the driver was uninsured.

Morby v Richards
[2006] Birmingham District Registry. For the successful Claimant. £1,012,000 in damages for the Claimant who suffered a severe brain injury in a road traffic accident.

Corr v IBC
[2006]  EWCA civ 331, 3WLR 395; For the successful Claimant, industrial accident causing severed ear leading to depression and 6 years later suicide.  Causation, remoteness and forseeability in PI cases. Judgment for the C in the C/A.  Value £633,000.

Miller v QBE
[2006] EWHC 1529; Statutory interpretation of the Road Traffic Act 1988 S.145 – the Claimant police officer was not an employee of the insured hence able to claim compensation from the insurer under S.151 for his serious injuries when a criminal ran him down in a police car.

Clough v First Choice
  [2006] EWCA Civ 15, PIQR P22, for the Claimant, young man made paraplegic after swimming pool accident abroad.

Walker v Midland Electricity
[2004] Mayor’s & City of London County Court (HHJ Cox QC) 8/11/2004, Lawtel  For the Claimant, £325,000 neck and shoulder injuries and adjustment disorder sustained during an accident at work.

Oldham v Robinson [2004] Settlement 9/8/2004. Lawtel. For the claimant, a 33-year-old man, who received £935,000 for the spinal injuries sustained in a road traffic accident in November 1998. Paraplegia and had no movement or feeling in his legs and no control over his bowel or bladder. Much reduced life expectancy.

Wallis v Balfour Beatty [2003] EWCA Civ 72; Employers liability, breach of Workplace Regulations, causation. For the Claimant.

Russell v Smith [2003] QBD; HH Judge Rich QC. 30/7/2003 Lawtel, For the Claimant. Liability trial. Child claimant with brain injury after road traffic accident on bike, contributory negligence.

Stiles v Thames Trains [2003] QBD, Master Whittaker, settlement. For the Claimant. Recovering £750,000 for a victim of the Paddington Train Disaster who suffered severe burns and PTSD.

Wells v Watford NHS Trust [2000] April QBD, Lawtel L.R., N. Baker Q.C. sitting as deputy, Lawtel C7400041  For the Claimant. Liability trial, manual handling in the delivery suite in NHS hospitals, finding MHOR applies to delivery suites.

Smee v Adaye [1999]  March, QBD, HHJ Steele sitting as deputy, Kemp B2-011/1 & confirmed  C.A 19.04.2000 Lawtel C7400040.  For the Claimant, award £1.1 million, RTA, hip and leg injury, pension loss and future risk of retirement.

The needlestick doctor [1998] August, settled. For Claimant, PTSD, phobia of needles after needlestick injury. Loss of career.  Settled for £450,000.

Various v Tesco
[1997] QBD, settled. For Claimants, 40+ RSI cases against Tesco for checkout cashiers.  Lead cases packaged for trial in High Court then all settled.



Clinical Negligence

Deneven v Lees Hospitals [2009] representing child blinded by the hospital’s failure to treat eye infection after birth.  Approved award £1,000,000.


Morris v Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust [2007] Cardiff D.R. Lawtel, Hypoxia at birth, cerebral palsy, settlement, Lump Sum value £3 million, periodical payments for lost earnings £15,000 pa to age 70, stepped periodical payments for care £70,000 pa for life (index linked to the ASHE).

Raichura v Leicestershire H.A.
[2003] Lawtel, Leicestershire District Registry (HHJ Hall QC). The claimant, a 23-year-old man, received a "bottom up settlement" or periodic payments settlement (with an old style lump sum value of £2,920,000) for the severe hypoxic-ischaemic brain damage sustained during his birth in November 1979. Cerebral palsy and tetraplegia, severe cognitive impairment, wholly dependent on others for his care and daily needs.

Evans v Mid Glamorgan HA [1998] Cardiff Dist Reg, Unreported  For Claimant, brain damaged child, failed sterilisation, settled for £950,000.


 


 





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Seminars

Andrew is a regular speaker at Chambers' flagship personal injury and clinical negligence seminars.



He chaired Jordan's PI update seminars for 5 years in the late 1990s and has spoken at the APIL annual AGM and the PIBA AGM regularly in the last 5 years.

10th Annual Clinical Negligence Seminar and Legal Update
10th Annual Personal Injury Seminar & Legal Update
9th Annual Personal Injury Seminar & Legal Update
Asbestos Claims: Law, Practice and Procedure
Asbestos history and medicine
Brain damage at birth claims
Brain Injury Conference 2009
Causation Update
Consent in Clinical Negligence
Employers' Liability Update
Future loss and the Ogden Tables
Head Injury Claims
Interest on damages
Interim payments
Lack of consent claims
Life expectancy in serious injury claims
Limitation in Personal Injury claims
Manual handling
Multipliers
Pain, suffering and loss of amenity
Periodic payments in Clinical Negligence Cases
Periodical Payment Orders
Provisional damages
RTA liability update
RTA quantum update
Schedules of loss and expense
Smith v Manchester Awards
Smith v Manchester awards
Spinal injury claims
The MIB - The Uninsured and Untraced Agreements, practice and procedure
The Road Traffic Act 1988


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Publications



Kemp & Kemp, Law Practice and Procedure, 2005 – 2009 , General Editor. Sweet & Maxwell.

Kemp & Kemp
on the Quantum of Damages, 2004 onwards, Contributing editor 8 chapters, Sweet & Maxwell.

Asbestos Claims: Law, Practice and Procedure, published by 9 Gough Square, March 2007: Contributing Editor.


Road Traffic claims: Liability: published by Jordans, 2009, general editor.


Manual Handling Claims, published by 9 Gough Square, March 2008: Author.

The Journal of Personal Injury Law,
2000, 2001, 2002, General Editor.  Sweet & Maxwell.

MIB Claims
, author, Jordans, 1st ed  2001 and 2nd ed 2003, 3rd edition 2008.

The Professional Negligence and Liability Reports,
Co-Editor, Sweet & Maxwell 1996-1999.

Medical Evidence in Whiplash Cases [book] 1998 Sweet & Maxwell.




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Interests

Sailing - RYA day skipper


Skiing

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  Andrew Ritchie QC
is a member of these
practice teams:
  Personal Injury
Clinical Negligence
  Judgment was delivered for the Claimant on 1.12.2008 by HHJ O'Brien in Thomas v Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Andrew represented Mr Thomas who suffered ulcerative colitis whilst taking part in a drugs trial of Rofecoxib a Vioxx derivative.
  Vioxx Success
  Corr v IBC [2008] HL: Successfully represented the Claimant led by John Foy Q.C. in the House of Lords. The Law on self harm (suicide) after employers liability accidents has now been clarified in the Claimants favour.
  Damages for suicide
  Morris v Gwent NHST: Andrew Ritchie represented the claimant who suffered Cerebral Palsy at birth due to clinical negligence. Damages: (Lump sum equivalent £3 million), paid partly in a lump sum and partly by periodical payments for lost earnings to age 70 and for care for life with index linking on RPI or ASHE depending on the result of the appeal in Thompstone.
  Hypoxia at Birth
  In Purdue v Port Line the date of knowldge in a living mesothelioma Asbestos case was determined as 1955 against a "blue water" shipowner.
  Asbestos - Mesothelioma
  9 Gough Square are always happy to help with any further enquiries
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