GOOD NEWS FOR DEFENDANTS

Dame Janet Smith gave a terribly important decision today in JOHNSON V MOD. It was about the vexed question of the date of knowledge to be attributed to a man claiming damages for noise induced deafness.Whilst saying that the decision was close to the line (para.28) she concluded that a reasonable man going deaf at the age of 61 would have wished to determine the cause and so was deemed to have knowledge which meant he was statute -barred. Deafness claims are driving insurers mad on account of the enormous gulf between damages (low ) and costs (high ). Interestingly the claimant only began to consider a claim after a claims management compant rep collared him in a supermarket car park.