Louise has dealt with defendant personal injury litigation for major insurers since 2002 and specialises in serious and catastrophic injuries. She has significant experience defending most types of personal injury claims, both liability and motor.
Her sub-speciality and indeed passion is in defending equestrian claims, particularly those involving the Animals Act 1971. She has assisted leading equestrian organisations with codes of conduct and other documentation and advised both the industry and Defra on proposed changes to the wording of the Act.
Notable cases include:
- A case involving an Australian national living in London who sustained spinal cord injuries. Louise and the team involved obtained a ruling from the Australian Tax Office on a proposed financial model which could have been implemented to significantly reduce the tax burden incurred had periodical payments been grossed up for tax on the claimant’s return to Australia. This allowed negotiation from a much stronger position, unconcerned about the ‘threat’ of a PPO.
- Successfully repudiating a claim against a well-known national hunt trainer when an amateur jockey was left hemiplegic following a fall at a training fence.
- Successfully defending a claim against the owner of a New Forest pony who badly injured a walker out in the New Forest. Had the claim succeeded, there would have been serious and wide-reaching implications which would have affected all parts of the country where feral or semi-feral horses are allowed to roam including Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Welsh Hills and the Fells as well as the New Forest.
