Patrick Blakesley KC

Insurance & Reinsurance

Patrick is experienced in policy and coverage disputes in a wide variety of accident, indemnity and liability policies.

• Usually coverage disputes connected with personal injury, including motor/EL/PL disputes, MIB and Article 75, Road Traffic Act 1988 issues.
• Claims for negative declaratory relief
• Coverage disputes in other tort cases, including property damage claims, covering fire, flood, tree root and business interruption claims, and the associated insurance issues; and he has advised on coverage issues arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He has frequently given seminars and talks to solicitors and insurers on coverage issues.

Selected Cases

Patrick advises on coverage and indemnity issues generally connected with PI cases, and has acted in claims under PHI policies.  He is experienced in issues of security of periodical payments particularly for foreign-domiciled and passported insurers.   Recent examples include:-

K v M (2021) Stolen vehicle accident – motor traders policy – Article 75 – advising on the status of entry on the Motor Insurers’ Database and presumption of coverage for the purposes of Article 75(2)(d) and the likely approach of the Technical Committee.

S v I (2021)  Pedestrian fall into highway works.  Liability and coverage issues between main contractor, subsidiary and subcontractor.

P v D (2021) Issue of PP security for Gibraltar-based insurer.  Construction of Gibraltarian financial services and EU exit legislation; whether covered by the FSCS; issues of FCA registration, construction of the Prudential Regulation Authority Rulebook.

ABC (2021)  Issue of PP security.  Liabilities of insolvent insurer met by the Danish Guarantee Fund. Issue of liability of FSCS to satisfy the liability were the DGF to default.

B v L (2020) Coverage and exclusion clauses in multi-party construction site accident.

H v S (2020) Accident involving agricultural lifter used without authorisation to assist in nearby construction project to build family home for owner of the construction company. Eight policies potentially responded.

H v B (2018).  Advising on application by claimant for disclosure of defendant’s policy.

D v AL (2018)  Road construction worker – traumatic arm amputation in a hired chip spreader on temporarily fenced off section of highway – issue of motor/EL/PL coverage.

S v P (2018)  Hammer attack by employee on co-worker who may have just resigned, using hammer stolen from workplace, in public car park outside workplace.  Whether employer’s EL or PL policies responded.

LC v P (2015) – Skip lorry parked half on driveway, half on road.  Homeowner climbs on bed of lorry to help attach chains and is injured when driver operates hydraulic arm.  EL/PL/Motor coverage issue.

Civil/Insurance Fraud

Patrick specialises in personal injury cases of maximum severity. From the start of his career he has dealt with issues of fraud and dishonesty, learning his robust cross examination skills in the magistrates’ courts – including on one occasion forcing an admission from a police officer that he had concocted the central evidence in a case of driving under the influence of drugs. These days Patrick’s skills lie more in the forensic analysis of documentary, expert and surveillance evidence to identify patterns of inconsistency suggesting dishonesty and exaggeration. He is experienced in third-party and e-disclosure issues to access the widest pool of evidential material and in one such recent case worked with solicitors to identify exaggerated evidence in a claim by a solicitor in a Magic Circle firm, to achieve a settlement at a fraction of its pleaded value.

He regularly advises on the proper limits of surveillance and recording, including the surreptitious recording of expert examinations.

He is particularly experienced in claims involving functional neurological disorder, chronic pain and somatoform disorders in which credibility issues are prominent, and in working to identify whether ongoing symptoms in brain injury and other claims are organic, psychological or fraudulent.

Selected Cases

News

• Fundamental dishonesty finding in a high-value brain injury claim – Patrick Blakesley KC acts for the successful defendant
• Limitation decision in a fatal accident claim: on 21 April 2023, the High Court handed down judgment following a trial of a preliminary limitation issue

Read more

Articles

• Limitation decision in a fatal accident claim: on 21 April 2023, the High Court handed down judgment following a trial of a preliminary limitation issue
• The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Act 2022: a System Restore Point

Read more

Memberships

• Commercial Bar Association
• London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association
• Personal Injury Bar Association
• Professional Negligence Bar Association
• Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers