Colleen Cumbers

Product Liability

Colleen has a broad product liability practice, acting for both claimants – typically through subrogated recoveries – and defendants in claims concerning household and electrical appliances, vehicles, machinery, medical products, and food products. Her work includes claims involving alleged defects in products themselves, property damage caused by defective products, and products said to have caused personal injury or illness.

Colleen’s current and recent instructions in this area include:

• Assisting a team of counsel acting for one of the lead defendant manufacturers in The NOx Emissions Group Litigation – one of the largest group actions in English legal history – with liability trial preparation and research concerning the alleged losses.
• Acting for a claimant in a claim arising from a fire caused by an internal fuel leak in a bioethanol fireplace, resulting in substantial fire, smoke, and heat damage to a residential property.
• Acting for a claimant in relation to a serious residential fire alleged to have originated in a washing machine, involving issues as to whether a defect could be inferred notwithstanding the inability to identify the precise mechanism of failure.
• Acting for a supplier of components used in the refrigeration conversion of a commercial vehicle which was subsequently destroyed by fire, involving issues as to the scope of the supplier’s duties and responsibility for components installed by another party.
• Acting for the importer and mid-chain supplier of an allegedly defective motorcycle in a claim involving repair costs, product recall, and the scope of duties owed to the ultimate purchaser.
• Acting for a manufacturer in a claim arising from an allegedly defective slab lifter which lost power, causing a concrete slab to fall onto an employee’s hand.
• Acting for the manufacturer of breast implants in a claim alleging capsulation, pain, and the need for replacement surgery and removal of scar tissue.
• Acting for the manufacturer of an autoclave in a claim brought by a podiatrist who suffered burn injuries when steam and hot water were allegedly released from the machine, with issues concerning defectiveness, servicing, and operation.
• Acting for a well-known hotel chain in a Consumer Protection Act 1987 claim arising from an allegedly defective pre-packed for direct sale food product which caused a guest to suffer a serious anaphylactic reaction.

Selected Cases

Awards

• Inns of Court Pegasus Scholarship
• Inner Temple Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Award
• Inner Temple Major Scholarship
• Inner Temple Exhibition Scholarship
• Dean’s Award for Best Academic Performance in MA Law (Conversion)
• Various Finals Collections Prizes from Oriel College, University of Oxford
• Winner of Multiple Moots / Mock Trials incl. the Aqeel H. Noorali Moot Cup

News

• Crown Office Chambers to attend the Bar Council’s Pupillage Fair, 17 October 2026
• Hamish Fraser and Colleen Cumbers recognised in the Pro Bono Recognition List 2026

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Articles

• Supreme Court Removes Bar On Lost Years Damages For Young Children: CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5

Blogs

• How Can a Party Enforce a Foreign Arbitration Award in the Courts of England and Wales?

Events

• Crown Office Chambers to attend the Bar Council’s Pupillage Fair, 17 October 2026
• Crown Office Chambers at The National Pupillage Fair 2024

Qualifications

• BA French and German (First Class), University of Oxford
• MA Law (Conversion) (Distinction), University of Law
• LLM Master of Laws (Distinction), University of Law

Memberships

• Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR)
• Technology and Construction Bar Association (TECBAR)
• The Society of Construction Law (SCL)
• Professional Negligence Bar Association (PNBA)
• London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association (LCLCBA)
• Young International Arbitration Group (YIAG)
• Personal Injury Bar Association (PIBA)