Product Liability
Elizabeth regularly works on technical cases involving defective products. Her main focus is on disputes where products have failed causing financial losses. Elizabeth’s practice in product liability frequently overlaps with her practice in insurance, property damage, and professional negligence. Elizabeth has been instructed in a number of high value cases for high profile multinational companies including Siemens, Kubota and Indesit, often involving very complex forensic evidence and difficult questions of law.
Selected Cases
- Lloyd-Jones v Whirlpool – Elizabeth acted for the Claimant when a fire commenced in a residential flat. The cause of the fire was alleged to be a domestic drying machine. As well as the property damage, two men were killed in the fire. The case was relatively high profile as the coroner was highly critical of Whirlpool’s attitude, and they were requested to attend a Parliamentary Committee hearing where this case was raised.
- Acting for one of a number of Claimants pursuing a well-known car manufacturer for property damage and loss of their vehicles arising out of the well known Zafira fires. The case is relatively high profile, with the particular type of Zafira being subject to two product recalls, and has been the subject of the Parliamentary Transport Committee.
- Acting for a multi-national company in £4m claim arising out of an allegedly defective boiler management unit, involving complex issues as to whether the product was defective at the time of delivery.
- Acting for a multi-national company in £6.5m claim arising out of defective automatic number plate recognition cameras, which were unable to recognise the third character on UK number plates.
- Acting for product importer in property damage claim arising out of a fire involving a ride-on lawn mower. As well as complex forensic evidence and arguments on causation, it involved issues regarding assignment.
- Acting for residential property owner in £1.1m property damage claim arising out of fire caused by an allegedly defective tumble dryer.
Articles
- Covid-19: Business Interruption insurance, an FCA class action, and the long-tail risks to insurance brokers
- Covid-19: issues for property and business interruption insurers by Elizabeth Boon, Crown Office Chambers
Qualifications
- Major Scholarship, Inner Temple
- BA (Hons) (Oxon)
Memberships
- Adjudication Society
- Commercial Bar Association
- LCIA Young International Arbitration Group
- London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association
- Professional Negligence Bar Association
- Society of Construction Law (UK & Gulf)
- Technology & Construction Court Bar Association
Recommendations
“She is incredibly thorough and manages to find extra routes of recovery.”
Chambers & Partners, 2022
“Elizabeth is an assured and agile advocate. Her approach is sensible and commercial.”
Legal 500, 2022
“A very proactive barrister, she gets engaged with the work quickly; she’s enthusiastic and very responsive.”
Chambers & Partners, 2022
“She has a good client manner and provides honest, no-nonsense advice and a good turnaround time.”; “She is organised and structured in her analysis and extremely commercial in her approach.”
Chambers & Partners, 2021
“Elizabeth is very user friendly, hardworking, and has a keen eye for a commercial solution to the client’s problems. She rapidly gets to the heart of the issues and communicates the strengths and weaknesses of the case clearly.”
Legal 500, 2021
“Tenacious and extremely hardworking.”
Legal 500, 2020
A wise and analytical advocate. She’s tenacious, combative and very hard-working.” “She has an excellent understanding of technical matters.”
Chambers & Partners, 2020
