Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
21/08/2018
Marcus Grant, instructed by Nick Godwin of Slater & Gordon Solicitors, appeared for a widow whose late husband was killed in a running down accident when he was struck by a car travelling at 86 mph in a 40 mph zone during the hours of darkness.
At the time of the accident C was in the process of divorcing her husband for infidelity after being a couple for > 27 years and married for 10 years; they were living apart and she had already obtained a decree nisi.
The two principal issues at trial were whether or not the deceased was guilty of any contributory negligence and whether C could establish a real (as opposed to a fanciful) chance of a dependency based on the marriage being salvageable in the absence of the accident. The central point of evidence with regard to the latter was whether, once C had received advice about the financial ramifications of proceeding to a decree absolute, a decision that would have left her financially unsupported by her husband after the age of 52 (her youngest child’s 18th birthday and 5 years post-accident) C would have reconsidered her decision to divorce and elected to remain in the marriage (her late husband wanted to save the marriage).
After a two-day trial, C won the first issue (no finding of contributory fault was made) but lost the second issue (the Court finding that the chance of the marriage being saved was fanciful (Davies v Taylor [974] AC 207 followed).
