Barrister Profile

Profile

Jonathan's principal area of practice is personal injury.  He also has considerable experience of consumer credit litigation. 

Personal injury

Jonathan is instructed in all areas of personal injury work, including accidents at work, road traffic accidents and public liability disputes.  He is also instructed in product liability claims, accidents abroad, claims against local authorities and fatal accident claims. 

He undertakes work at both fast-track and multi-track level.  He is regularly instructed in claims with a value of between £25,000 and £100,000. 

Cases of interest:

• Re: Philip Marsden (deceased) [2008]:  Represented the family of the deceased at the inquest into the death of Philip Marsden who was fatally shot by Staffordshire Police.  This was the first fatal shooting by British police since the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.  
• G v H:  Jonathan was recently instructed to advise in a fatal accidents case with a pleaded value of £500,000.
• C v D:  Jonathan is presently instructed in a case with a substantial claim for loss of earnings arising from the sale of business following a road traffic accident in which the Claimant sustained significant psychiatric injury.
• X v Y (2011):  Jonathan was junior to Robert Weir QC in a claim arising from a diving accident in the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia.  The case involved issues as to the scope of the law of tort in Saudi Arabia as well as complex issues on liability and quantum.  The claim settled at trial.
• A v B: Jonathan is presently being led by Robert Weir QC in a catastrophic injury claim involving complex issues relating to the liability in tort of public authorities.
• H v V (2011):  Jonathan advised and represented the Defendant in a multi track claim in which the Claimant was making a speculative claim for loss of earnings.
• L v Kerry Foods Limited (2011):  Jonathan successfully represented the Claimant at trial in a claim arising from an accident at work in which a fellow employee shut a freezer door trapping his arm.  The Judge accepted that the Defendant was negligent and in breach of statutory duty. 

Consumer credit

Jonathan’s personal injury practice is complemented by his advisory and advocacy work in the field of consumer credit litigation with particular focus on claims relating to the mis-sale of payment protection insurance policies and the enforceability of consumer credit agreements.

Cases of interest

• Blackhorse v Speak [2010] EWHC 1866 (QB):  Led by David Berkley QC representing the Defendants in a test case concerning the enforceability of a fixed sum loan agreement following the alleged ‘mis-sale’ of associated payment protection insurance by the Claimant. 
• B v The Funding Corporation (2011) – Jonathan successfully represented the Claimant at trial in which it was found that the Defendant was in breach of the ICOB rules within the FSA handbook and that an unfair relationship under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 had arisen following the sale of a payment protection insurance policy that was unsuitable for the Claimant’s needs.  The PPI was written out of the agreement and damages were payable under section 150 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
• Merit Finance Limited v J (2011)  Jonathan was successful in getting the Claimant's claim struck out on the grounds of abuse of process.  The Claimant claimed a sum in excess of £35,000 in respect of an initial loan of only £4,500. 

Publications

Claiming for special education needs - state versus private provision (co-author with Robert Glancy QC), APIL PI Focus Volume 21, Issue 8.

Professional Membership

• PIBA
• APIL

Education

• Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law, London
• B.A. (Hons) Law (2:1), St. Peter's College, University of Oxford
• Direct Public Access Qualified 

 Other interests

• Football  
• Politics
• Manchester bands past and present