Property Damage
Jack’s experience includes:
- Claims under the Water Industry Act 1991 following escapes of water from pipes, and for compensation for damage caused by the exercise of statutory powers under the Act.
- Advising and drafting proceedings in fire, flood, and other property damage cases, arising from a variety of causes including defective electrical equipment, domestic appliances, inadequately made plumbing, and tradesmen’s works.
- Glenluce Fishing Co v Watermota [2016] EWHC 1807 (TCC), a dispute over the fitness for purpose of a marine diesel engine. The case gave rise to a novel dispute concerning the interaction between the rules on payment of court fees and the provisions of the Limitation Act 1980.
- A TCC case in Liverpool arising out of the collapse of a wall on neighbouring land due to lateral pressure exerted by the defendant’s land; the defendant in turn claimed against a third party which provided a geoenvironmental engineering report on the land which (allegedly) negligently failed to identify the risk to the wall. The client achieved a very favourable settlement.
- Acting for the defendant security company in a six-figure claim for property damage following a series of criminal incidents at the claimant’s car showrooms. The case settled for less than half its pleaded value.
- Smith & ors v South Eastern Power Networks [2012] EWHC 2541 (TCC): junior (to Michael Kent QC and Simon Howarth) for the Claimants in a series of test cases determining the liability of the electricity distribution industry for fires caused by overheating mains cut-out fuses.
- Disputes over insurance coverage and non-disclosure.
- Construction cases, including party wall disputes and cases of defective workmanship by contractors and sub-contractors.
- Pro bono representation of a retired claimant whose investment property required substantial repair work following a hopelessly negligent attempt at a loft conversion.
Selected Cases
View full profile »Articles
- Finding of fundamental dishonesty in a HAVS case
- Brown v Sestras: accurate hearsay or an unhappy series of unfortunate coincidences?
News
- Finding of fundamental dishonesty in a HAVS case
- Brown v Sestras: accurate hearsay or an unhappy series of unfortunate coincidences?
Qualifications
LLB, Law with European Legal Studies (First Class) King’s College London, 2003-7
ERASMUS year at Uppsala University, Sweden, 2005-6
LLM (Cantab) 2007-8
BVC (Very Competent) BPP London, 2008-9
Lord Denning Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn
Languages: French (intermediate), Spanish (improving), Swedish (basic)
Memberships
- PIBA
- PNBA
Recommendations
“Jack roots out the nub of a case and deploys a strategic and commercial approach to litigation.”
Legal 500, 2022