Adam Samuel

Adam is regularly instructed in complex clinical negligence cases (warnings, advice, misdiagnosis, medication, failed surgery, hospital acquired infection, conception/ sterilisation/pregnancy/birth injury/still birth), on behalf of patients and medical practitioners/hospitals. His practice also encompasses cosmetic surgery and dentistry.

Adam acts for both Claimants and Defendants.

Examples of cases with which Adam has recently dealt include:

• Acted in a claim in respect of alleged failure by general practitioners to diagnose and treat cholesteatoma, leading to emergency surgery, deafness and brain injury, and causing long-term inability to work.
• Acted in respect of a negligently performed double hip replacement in a young woman, causing grossly impaired gate and life-long symptoms.
• Acted in claim by parents in respect of psychiatric damage upon death of still-born child following Wild v Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust EWHC, Tredget v Bexley HA 5 Med LR 189 etc.
• Acted in claim in respect of negligently performed cosmetic surgery for recipient of previously successful gastric procedure. The claim gave rise to complicated issues relating future surgery, ability to conceive, causation of psychiatric injury and future losses.
• Acted in claim in respect of negligent failure to diagnose ileus following laparoscopic cholecystectomy, giving rise to rapid deterioration of condition, emergency surgery and treatment in ITU.

Adam has a busy costs practice and is frequently instructed by claimants and insurers to argue specific points of dispute, and attend cost budgeting and detailed assessment hearings.

Recently, Adam has been involved in a long-running dispute about the applicable success fee in respect of HAVS cases under CPR 45 (IV and V) in relation to a bill of several hundred thousand pounds.

Adam is a specialist employment advocate with extensive experience of advising and representing parties in matters falling within the jurisdiction of the Employment Tribunal, the High and County Courts, and a number of specialist tribunals.

His clients include many of the country’s major companies, insurers, trade unions and their members, public authorities and charities, private clients, skilled professionals and their governing bodies. He regularly receives instructions from many of the country’s leading firms of solicitors.

Adam deals with the full spectrum of employment matters, but in particular: all forms of discrimination, victimisation and harassment, whistle-blowing, unfair and wrongful dismissal, contractual/bonus claims, redundancy, industrial relations/trade union law, TUPE claims, claims relating to terms, pay and conditions, and complex jurisdictional issues.

He represents claimants and respondents in broadly equal measure and undertakes work at all stages and levels, from preliminary hearings lasting a day or less to complex cases listed for several weeks and at appellate level.

Adam has had the benefit of being junior to John Hendy KC in respect of doctors’ disciplinary matters in the Queen’s Bench Division. Adam’s experiences in his core area (Personal Injury) have given him an in-depth understanding of how the medical professional operates and have provided experience of acting on behalf of a wide range of NHS Trusts as well as professionals in the healthcare industry.

Adam acts for bereaved families and other interested persons (medical practitioners, insurance companies and trade unions) in inquests and public inquires. Adam has frequently appeared in multi-week HRA Art 2 inquests, sitting with and without juries.

Examples of recent cases include:

• Acting (along with other leading and junior counsel) on behalf of a medical practitioner in the widely reported, multi-week inquest into the death of a teenager with learning disabilities who drowned in a semi-secure mental health unit.
• Acting on behalf of a Surgeon in a multi-week, Art 2 inquest into the death of a patient who jumped from window following admission to hospital with grievous self inflicted injury during an episode of psychosis.
• Acting for prison nurse in a multi-week inquest into death of inmate in prison where the cause of death was unclear.

Adam has over a decade’s experience of acting for Claimants and Defendants in serious personal injury and fatal accident claims. He practises in all areas of personal injury litigation, but in particular:

• Serious road traffic accidents;
• Employer’s Liability and Industrial Disease;
• Occupiers’ claims;
• Highways claims;
• Travel claims (including under the the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regs 1992);
• Product Liability claims under the CPA 1987.

Adam is frequently instructed in claims giving rise to extensive future loss of earnings, pension, treatment and care elements. He regularly deals with controversial, complex and novel issues of medical evidence.

Adam frequently deals with all types of industrial disease cases, including those involving multiple expert evidence and cases where fraud is suspected, or alleged.

Examples of noteworthy recent cases include:

• Acting on behalf of an injured solider in high-value (lifetime loss of earnings, pension aids and equipment) claim concerning NIHL. The claim gave rise to issues concerning combat immunity and complex expert medical and occupational evidence.
• Acting for world champion racing driver (substantial claim for lost earnings and endorsements) who was injured while test-driving a super car days before the final race of the season. The claim involved evidence from racing experts as to the loss of chance of winning the world championship, and complicated future loss issues.
• Acting in the nationally reported (high-value) action for widow of employee who underwent traumatic amputation of the leg following a fall at work. The deceased died having attempted to self-medicate with legal highs due to an intolerance of standard painkillers. The case gave rise to complicated psychiatric and factual evidence as to whether the claimant’s use of legal highs and death could be attributed to the accident and amputation.
• Acting in a substantial and complex EL claim in which initially modest injuries lead to claimant in his 20s being unable to work again due to chronic musculoskeletal pain, CFJS, upper limb neuropathic pain and myofascial pain syndrome.

Adam has extensive experience in conducting product liability claims under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, including those involving complicated expert evidence relating to the state of products.

Examples of recent noteworthy cases include:

• Successful high-value product liability claim relating to “super car”.
• Acting on behalf of a claimant who sustained severe burns while using a defective kitchen.
• Acting in respect of defective furniture supplied by national retailer which caused serious injury to the claimant.

Adam is happy to appear before a wide range of disciplinary tribunals, and has experience in the conduct of associated proceedings such as inquests relating to deaths in custody/care where breach of professional standards are alleged, and regulatory matters concerning the prosecution of members of professional bodies.

Recently, he represented a number of police officers accused of professional misconduct relating to the death of a prisoner in custody in proceedings lasting several days, dealing with evidence of senior officers and medical experts and HRA 1998 arguments.

Adam has experience prosecuting and defending, representing enforcement agencies and companies in both the Crown and Magistrates’ Courts in Criminal, Environmental and Health and Safety Matters, including on appeal.

He defends clients charged with driving, Health and Safety and Environmental Pollution offences in criminal courts, and has acted in a variety of nuisance cases.

Examples of recent cases include:

• Acted in civil and criminal proceedings arising from the death of a cyclist in multi-vehicle accident where a number of parties were alleged to have struck the deceased prior to death. Adam also dealt with issues of indemnity and contribution between the parties and their insurers.
• Defending a company charged with water pollution causing death to wildlife and facing substantial fine.

Adam has extensive experience in claims arising outside the jurisdiction, both under the Package Travel (etc) Regs 1992 and under various treaties, including those giving rise to international insurance issues.

Examples of recent noteworthy cases include:

• Acting for a claimant in respect of a serious and life-changing injury sustained when he slipped on stairs leading from tree-house accommodation in France.
• Acting in respect of a skiing accident causing permanent injury to a young skier in Bulgaria.
• Acting for mother and child who sustained injury in a hotel in Turkey.
• Acting on behalf of patients who contracted gastroenteritis on a cruise ship.

• Acting for injured solider in high-value (lifetime loss of earnings and pension) claim Post-Smith and Others v MOD UKSC. The case concerned the extent of combat immunity for an injured soldier.
• Instructed in long-running costs dispute concerning the interpretation of CPR Part 45 (IV and V) in relation to level of recoverable uplifts in HAVS cases following the ruling in Patterson v MOD EWHC 2767.
• Instructed in high-value, multi-party Product Liability claim involving a world champion racing driver and television presenter who was injured test-driving a super car shortly before the final race of the season. The claim was (successfully) brought under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
• Acted for medical practitioner in widely reported Article 2 Inquest into the drowning of a patient with learning disabilities in secure/semi-secure mental health ward.
• Instructed in high-value lifetime loss of earnings and treatment claim for young worker who developed CFJS, upper limb neuropathic pain and myofacial pain syndrome.
• Instructed in case concerning applicability of the provision of the Equality Act 2010 to the Church of England and the interrelationship between the statute and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the CoE.
• Acted for junior surgical trainee in lengthy HRA Art 2 inquest concerning the death of a patient who jumped from a window in hospital following his admission with symptoms of psychosis.
• Acted for claimant in lifelong loss of earnings claim by engineer who sustained a serious crushing injury in the course of his employment, with issues related to future employment prospects overseas.

• Adam Samuel secured dismissal of claim in the case of Faizan v Pakeeza Dairies Limited
• PI Breakfast Seminar: Resiling from Admissions & Limitation in Industrial Disease