This article was first published in the February 2014 edition of the Personal Injury Law Journal under the heading “Just and equitable = flexibility”
Summary
As set within the article, the overriding obligation upon the court is to apportion liability on the basis of what is ‘just and equitable’. This provides the court with a considerable degree of fl exibility in determining the issue on the circumstances of the case before it. As such, the Court of Appeal has repeatedly emphasised its reluctance to interfere with the assessment of the trial judge. It is all the more important therefore that a favourable result is achieved at first instance and that the trial judge properly recognises the test of relative culpability and causative potency.