Clean air: a claim under Article 1?
In February 2013 nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah from Hither Green in South London died after suffering a severe asthma attack. “Can the courts be used to establish that we have a human right to clean air?” asked Nick Robinson on the Today Programme this morning. A report by Royal College of Physicians has apparently linked 40,000 deaths to pollution each year. A successful case against the government would arguably put the government under considerable pressure as well as resulting in justice for affected families. Ella’s mother and her lawyer were interviewed on the programme. Ella had very severe asthma. According to the Today Programme, nitrogen dioxide levels around their home on the South Circular are double the EU legal limit. Her lawyer, Jocelyn Cockburn…
Personal Injury and the Party Manifestos
Is there anything in the parties’ manifestos which might affect the field of personal injury? Reforms since 2010 include a new fixed costs regime, costs management/budgeting and greatly increased court fees. Civil liability has been removed for breaches of health and safety regulations. But what is being promised for the future? The Conservative Manifesto includes a pledge to reform human rights law. It would scrap the Human Rights Act and introduce a British Bill of Rights. The intention is that this will break the formal link between British Courts and the European Court of Human Rights making the Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the UK. More is said in the section on the European Union: the Bill will remain faithful to the…