Practice Overview
David has a particular interest in professional negligence, property damage and insurance work, taking on extensive advocacy and advisory work for both claimants and defendants.
David is ranked in the Legal 500 for both professional negligence and insurance & reinsurance work, where he is described as: “Diligent, thoughtful and displays a maturity of analysis above his year of call” and “impressive and very good with clients.” David’s professional negligence practice has been recognised in Chambers & Partners in recent years, where he has been described as: “very approachable”, “exceptionally bright, enthusiastic and hard working” and: “easy to work with, very reliable and hard-working; he can take the lead when he needs to; He turns things around quickly and always gives good-quality work”.
David’s practice also encompasses commercial, personal injury and construction proceedings, where he has considerable experience of both court and paper work.
Recent cases include:
- Acting (with Charles Dougherty QC) for a leading QC and the Bar Mutual in the defence of a £15m claim arising out previous unsuccessful litigation relating to a historic share sale agreement in the IFA sector.
- Successfully defending at trial in the Chancery Division conveyancing solicitors who were alleged to have paid over stakeholder funds following service of an invalid Notice to Complete.
- Representing a national firm of personal injury solicitors in a series of cases arising out of the alleged mishandling or under-settlement of numerous pieces of litigation.
- Acting for a professional building services consultant who is alleged to have inadequately designed and specified a ‘low carbon’ heating system for a prestigious residential property.
Recent cases include:
- Advising on scope of notification and aggregation as part of a coverage dispute under the solicitors MTC in respect of a firm of solicitors involved in selling ‘hotel development’ schemes (with Charles Dougherty QC).
- Advising on notification and mitigation provisions in the context of repeated flash flooding to local authority housing.
- Representing an insurance company seeking to recoup money paid to an insured on a business interruption policy prior to learning that the insured had failed to disclose its director’s string of previous failed business ventures.
- Advising as to the effects of negligent misrepresentations made when obtaining motor insurance the context of the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012.
- Representing a claimant in a home insurance claim arising out of the use of a buy-to-let property as a cannabis farm.
David also has a specialist practice pursuing and defending claims made on permanent health and critical illness insurance policies, where he is able to draw upon his experience of both insurance and personal injury work.
Recent commercial cases include:
Representing an international school in a dispute concerning the correct interpretation of a shareholders’ agreement.
Advising a Turkish business in respect of the enforcement of personal guarantees held by directors of an English company.
Defending a claim made by a Dutch executive search company for commission said to be due under an agreement to find candidates for leadership roles in a UK design firm.
Advising on contribution proceedings following the commercial settlement of claims arising out of allegedly defective water pumping equipment.
David is regularly instructed in proceedings arising out of claims made on permanent health and critical illness policies, where he is able to draw upon his experience of both insurance and personal injury work. He is also instructed in a range of life insurance matters, from issues of policy construction and administration to attendance at inquests.
David is ranked in the 2020 Edition of the Legal 500 for his insurance & reinsurance work where he is described as: “impressive and very good with clients.”
Recent cases include:
- Representing permanent health and critical illness insurers in contested High Court proceedings arising out of claims in respect of CFS/ME.
- Advising and representing a life insurer in respect of allegedly fraudulent withdrawals made from a life insurance bond.
- Successfully representing a permanent health insurer at a three-day trial where an indemnity had been denied on the basis of a pre-existing condition.
- Advising and securing an advantageous settlement for a life insurer/pension scheme administrator who had allegedly overpaid benefits to a deceased member of a pension scheme.
- Attendance and representation of a life insurer’s interests at an inquest in a case of suspected suicide.
Recent cases include:
- Pursuing claims against a fire prevention advisor and an industrial cleaning company following catastrophic fires at fast food units in London railway stations.
- Acting for a claimant care home owner in respect of flooding to its property, said to have been caused by the local council’s installation of railings in an adjacent park, which diverted the flow of water in the direction of its property.
- Representing a home and business owner in a flooding claim said to have been caused by the change of use of farmland surrounding his property.
- Representing claimant homeowners at trial in a tree root subsidence damage claim against a local authority.
- Acting for landlords in a nuisance/business interruption claim arising out of allegations of disrepair in a commercial building.
- Representing the importer of LED spotlights which were alleged to have caused a significant house fire.