Simon John

Simon undertakes work for Claimants and Defendants in a wide range of PI law, including high value chronic pain cases, disease, including HAVS, WRULDS, asbestosis and deafness; clinical negligence, accidents at work, and with considerable experience in Highways and Occupiers liability. Simon also deals with high value road traffic cases including complex multi-party fraud allegations with MIB involvement, as well as credit hire arguments. He also appears regularly at Inquests.

Recent cases include: successfully settling a claimed high six figure Chronic Pain case for an insurer at 15% of pleaded value; successfully defending a claimed £700k HAVS case at trial and providing expert opinion on the applicable highways law principles of England and Wales in a cross border seven figure Scottish Traumatic Brain Injury Case

He also has a growing instruction in costs and inquest work.

Simon provides relevant CPD seminars.

Simon has wide-ranging experience in employment law and regularly appears in the ET as well as having EAT and High Court experience. He appears throughout the tribunals of England and Wales as well as in Scotland. He represents both Claimants and Respondents and regularly represents Local Authorities and Police Authorities, as well as commercial employers. Simon also represents Union-backed Claimants and private individuals from worker to director level. He is experienced in all of the prohibited grounds of discrimination case, redundancy, wage claims, unfair dismissal, whistle-blowing claims, TUPE and bonus cases.

Simon is also experienced in drafting and representation in fitness to practice proceedings involving nurses before the Nursing and Midwifery Council, including consideration of appeals and reviews as well as advice and representation at Police Misconduct Hearings.

Simon has recently successfully represented a Claimant and achieved a high six figure award in a Discrimination claim at ET (and EAT); achieved a six figure award in a complex PHI claim (and with a likely reportable anticipated EAT awaited); advised on difficult issues involving the potential transfer of dozens of local authority staff, and a complex transfer of local authority/police/private charity service provision and has recently represented a high-profile Professor in an internal University appeal, a re-structuring company in dispute with one of its directors, and various cases involving significant sexual and other discriminatory allegations in the workplace.

Simon is experienced in and provides training on a wide range of employment law matters.

Simon has featured in the Legal 500 as a recommended employment practitioner and has acted as legal panel advisor as well as legal representative at professional disciplinary/appeal hearings.

Simon is well versed in the legal and scientific arguments in a range of industrial disease cases and is regularly instructed by both claimant and defendant in HAVS/WRULD, RSI, Deafness, and has experiences of mesothelioma, asbestos and other irritant cases. He has recently advised and pleaded in a series of deafness claims against the MOD and for engineers against Telecoms Co’s.

Simon is experienced in the arguments and tactics of s.151 insurance claims, and PHI claims.

Simon has conducted a range of costs claims, including in the court of appeal.

Simon is regularly instructed by major insurers and by local authorities to deal with suspected fraudulent elements in cases, including:

• Setting aside notices of discontinuance to pursue fundamental dishonesty;
• LVI/staged accidents,
• Exaggeration claims, including the tactics of surveillance evidence and their interaction with part 36 offers
• Credibility generally, and the careful forensic analysis and tactical enquiry against for example multiple historic claims, or linked witnesses.

Simon is experienced in conducting inquests, mostly for insurers and local authorities, including inquests arising from death in custody; Occupier/School trips; RTA; and Highway Design issues and those involving complex article 2 and Reg 28 report arguments.

Simon is very experienced in Defending Local Authorities in all aspects of Highways related claims, also in occupier and employer liability and nuisance.

Simon is experienced in property damage claims, including private nuisance claims including against local authorities, including tree root ingress claims.

K v N – representing a banker in a 3-week £½m claim for discrimination and whistleblowing.

P v D  – representing a local authority in a high value HAVS claim involving the full range of issues including: the legal test of ‘regular’ exposure, the significance of sub 2.5m/s² exposure, medical causation including the significance of hand photographs, latent symptom worsening, CTS as a differential diagnosis, Rheumatologist and epilepsy issue as well as very detailed engineering issues.

G v W – achieving £½m award in a disability discrimination claim against a local authority, Including at the EAT.

M v A – successfully representing Claimant up to EAT in high six figure PHI claim.

D v W  – representing sisters in high value claims of neighbour nuisance and discrimination, including against local authority.

C v MOD – recently part of achieving a high value settlement for an ex-soldier in an ‘institutional’ race discrimination claim.

Re: D – advising a public authority in respect of a mass proposed service provision change with multi-£million implications.

S v L  – achieving six figure settlement in a teacher stress at work claim.

S v S  – advising on multiple claims for flooding arising from flooded abandoned mine shafts.

B v X  – successfully defending £700k chronic pain case with findings of malingering.

A v S – Successfully defending a claimed £½ m Race discrimination police case involving interesting comparator arguments and novel judgment delay issues.

X v S – representing a local authority in two linked multi-party inquests raising some unique issues as to city centre road design as alleged contributory cause in highway deaths;

V v C – case exploring the effect of Smith v Northampton and employer and occupier issues of control of workplace and knowledge of equipment for the purposes of PUWERegs 1998;

I v W – successfully defending an interesting case following and distinguishing the landmark case of Beavis v Parking Eye in which contractual authority and status of charges as Penalties raised;

A v S – successfully defending a high value HAVS claim, distinguishing the O’Keefe v Isle of Man negative inference principle and exploring Thoracic Outlet Syndrome aetiology;

L v C – case alleging breach of IRB and WRU rules on Senior v Junior play and duty of care;

Shaw v Merthyr CA – Costs appeal on the enforceability of a purported part 36 offer wrongly adopting pre-2007 CPR wording, considering Thewlis (HC) and whether offer can be saved by CA purposive approach in CvD and PHI line of authority

Rowan v the Environment Agency [2008] – EAT IRLR 20 – Representing Claimant on appeal in a leading case on constructive dismissal, DDA reasonable adjustments and providing guidance on requisite findings for the tribunal.

Cornwall Gardens v RO Garrard & others (CA) LTL 19/9/01: Times June 19 2001 – Million pound dispute as to rights of way and the economic tort of interference with business rights