Katherine Howells

Katherine has been recognised for several years as a leading junior in personal injury law in the The Legal 500 Directory and was recently described in Chambers & Partners UK as a rising name in the personal injury market.

Katherine has been undertaking personal injury cases for Claimants and Defendants for almost 20 years and has extensive experience of complex liability and quantum issues.

Employers Liability

• Yapp v Foreign and Commonwealth Office IRLR 616. Stress claim arising out of withdrawal from post of Britain’s High Commissioner to Belize;
• Claim by a detainee custody officer bitten on the face by an HIV positive detainee in transit for deportation to her country of origin;
• Claim by a firefighter who sustained injuries when rescuing a driver trapped in her car following a collision;
• Claim on behalf of a police officer who injured her knee when her foot went into a gulley missing a cover as she stepped out of a police van outside Bishopsgate Police Station;
• Claim on behalf of a mortgage advisor who fell down a flight of stairs in a branch of the bank where she was employed.

Road Traffic Accidents

• Claim by a driver in his employer’s vehicle who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury following a collision on the motorway;
• Claim arising out of a serious road traffic collision said to have been caused by a driver suffering a heart attack at the wheel;
• Substantial fatal accident financial and services dependency claim arising out of the death of a young father with a 1-year-old dependant daughter;
• Claim by a fashion designer who sustained orthopaedic and psychiatric injuries when run over by a limousine which mounted the pavement he was walking along;
• Claim arising out of an airside collision at Liverpool Airport between a security vehicle and an electronic baggage truck.

Travel/Aviation

• Donkers & BGV v Storm Aviation v Lufthansa EWHC 241 (QB). Claim by double amputee German national aircraft engineer and a German Social Security Institute arising out of an accident at Manchester Airport and linked claim for an indemnity under an IATA standard form Ground Handling Agreement;
• Molnar v Coral Cay Conservation Trust. Claim arising out of the death of a teenage volunteer during a conservation expedition to Fiji;
• Kett v Thomson Airways. Claim against an airline arising out of a slip by a passenger on a pool of vomit after disembarkation at Majorca;
• Claim against an airline and an agency providing medical advice to cabin crew by telephone arising out of a heart attack suffered by a passenger during a long haul flight;
• Claim by a paraplegic passenger against a tour operator and an airline following diagnosis of infective colitis said to have been caused by food poisoning sustained as a result of consuming contaminated food during a flight.

Public/Occupiers’ Liability

• Claim against the owners of an industrial park and their managing agents by a pedestrian who fell into a drain when the manhole cover upon which he was standing moved;
• Claim against a highway authority by the owner of a high-value sports car damaged in a single vehicle road traffic accident caused by a depression in the carriageway situated immediately after a hump backed bridge;
• Claim against a local authority on behalf of a child who was injured when a metal gate in an outdoor play area swung into his face;
• Claim against a highway authority by a cyclist who was injured when his wheels entered a pot hole situated in the carriageway;
• Claim against a highway authority by a pedestrian who tripped on a sunken area of tarmac adjacent to the pavement alongside a metal access cover set into the carriageway.

Medical Negligence

• Claim arising out of the death in hospital of a patient who had recently undergone a total knee replacement;
• Claim arising out of the death of a baby found to be in cardiac arrest approximately an hour after birth;
• Claim arising out of the failure to diagnose meningitis or consider the possibility of intercranial spread of infection in A&E leading to a delay in appropriate treatment and the subsequent development of epilepsy;
• Claim arising out of the sustaining of a 10cm transverse linear tear in a patient’s bladder during the course of an elective caesarean section;
• Claim arising out of the failure to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy following the miscarriage of one foetus after the implanting of two embryos during fertility treatment.

Katherine is a member of PIBA and TATLA.

Katherine has a particular specialist knowledge of and interest in travel and aviation matters. She is regularly instructed in relation to claims involving:

• Accidents overseas
• Foreign nationals injured in the UK
• The Package Travel Regulations
• The Montreal Convention (including passenger injury and delay and lost or delayed baggage cases)
• Accidents on board aircraft
• Accidents at airports or airfields
• Delayed and denied boarding and downgrading claims under European Regulation No. 261/2004

Notable Cases

• Donkers & BGV v Storm Aviation v Lufthansa EWHC 241 (QB). Claim by double amputee German national aircraft engineer and a German Social Security Institute arising out of an accident at Manchester Airport and linked claim for an indemnity under an IATA standard form Ground Handling Agreement;
• Wiseman v Virgin Atlantic  EWHC 1566. Claim arising out of the denied boarding of a passenger in Port Harcourt, Nigeria;
• Molnar v Coral Cay Conservation Trust. Claim arising out of the death of a teenage volunteer during a conservation expedition to Fiji;
• Kett v Thomson Airways. Claim against an airline arising out of a slip by a passenger on a pool of vomit after disembarkation at Majorca;
• Claim against an airline and an agency providing medical advice to cabin crew by telephone arising out of a heart attack suffered by a passenger during a long haul flight;
• Claim by multiple passengers seeking compensation for delay under the Montreal Convention having been denied boarding on a flight from Jeddah to Riyadh en route to London;
• Claim on behalf of a child struck in the eye by a dart during the course of an organised activity session at a hotel in Tunisia;
• Claim by a paraplegic passenger against a tour operator and an airline following diagnosis of infective colitis said to have been caused by food poisoning sustained as a result of consuming contaminated food during a flight;
• Claim arising out of the downgrading of a passenger from business to standard class on one flight forming part of the transatlantic leg of a round trip from London to South America;
• Claim against a Nigerian owner in relation to substantial unpaid fees for maintenance services provided for aircraft in the UK.

Katherine is a member of TATLA.

Katherine regularly undertakes clinical negligence cases, predominantly in relation to care received in hospital.

Notable Cases

• Claim arising out of the death in hospital of a patient who had recently undergone a total knee replacement;
• Claim arising out of the death of a baby found to be in cardiac arrest approximately an hour after birth;
• Claim arising out of the failure to diagnose meningitis or consider the possibility of intercranial spread of infection in A&E leading to a delay in appropriate treatment and the subsequent development of epilepsy;
• Claim arising out of the sustaining of a 10cm transverse linear tear in a patient’s bladder during the course of an elective caesarean section;
• Claim arising out of the failure to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy following the miscarriage of one foetus after the implanting of two embryos during fertility treatment.

• Yapp v Foreign and Commonwealth Office IRLR 616. Stress claim arising out of withdrawal from post of Britain’s High Commissioner to Belize;
• Donkers & BGV v Storm Aviation v Lufthansa EWHC 241 (QB). Claim by double amputee German national aircraft engineer and a German Social Security Institute arising out of an accident at Manchester Airport and linked claim for an indemnity under an IATA standard form Ground Handling Agreement;
• Claim against an airline and an agency providing medical advice to cabin crew by telephone arising out of a heart attack suffered by a passenger during a long haul flight;
• Claim by a detainee custody officer bitten on the face by an HIV positive detainee in transit for deportation to her country of origin;
• Claim arising out of the death of a teenage volunteer during a conservation expedition to Fiji;
• Claim arising out of a serious road traffic collision said to have been caused by a driver suffering a heart attack at the wheel;
• Claim by multiple passengers seeking compensation for delay under the Montreal Convention having been denied boarding on a flight from Jeddah to Riyadh en route to London;
• Claim by a fashion designer who sustained orthopaedic and psychiatric injuries when run over by a limousine which mounted the pavement he was walking along;
• Claim by a firefighter who sustained injuries when rescuing a driver trapped in her car following a collision;
• Claim arising out of the death in hospital of a patient who had recently undergone a total knee replacement.

Professional Memberships

• Travel and Tourism Lawyers Association
• Personal Injury Bar Association
• South Eastern Circuit

• Old Square Chambers shortlisted for 10 awards at The Legal 500 Bar Awards 2024
• Event: Calculating Loss of Earnings – Personal Injury (Bristol Law Society in association with Old Square Chambers)