Medical Protection defends five members from £10 million claim

The claimant, a student in their twenties, suffered a severe spinal injury following a bad landing from their first solo skydive, which sadly left them wheelchair bound.  

The claimant pursued a claim against the skydiving company involved for alleged failings during training and the talk down of the jump. The claimant also pursued a claim against their GP who had completed a skydiving form at their request. It was alleged that the GP improperly certified the claimant as being at “no extra risk” to jump when their medical history may have impaired their ability to respond to instructions before or during the skydive.  

Latterly the claimant also decided to pursue a claim, under vicarious liability, against a GP practice for the acts or omissions of its salaried GP. This was despite the salaried GP having confirmed they had an indemnity with a Medical Defence Organisation. At the time of the accident all five partners of the GP Practice were Medical Protection members and Medical Protection was able to assist the Partners in seeking to extricate them from the claim.  

Our Medical Protection members were not indemnified under Vicarious Liability for GPs in the practice. However, we applied discretion and agreed to defend the practice and cover the legal defence costs of representing the practice. This still meant that the GP partners would be personally liable for any award of claimant damage or costs made against it. The pleaded value of the claim was in excess of £10 million.  

The skydiving company, which was the first defendant in the proceedings, also decided to pursue a claim for contribution against the salaried GP and the GP practice. 

How did Medical Protection support 

Understandably the partners of the practice were extremely worried and distressed about the claim pursued against them. The litigation process over a two-to-three-year period, which took a significant toll.  

The parties engaged in Alternative Dispute Resolution (outside of the courtroom, such as mediation) but unfortunately it was not possible to resolve the claim, and it appeared unlikely at that time that the practice could be extricated from the claim. The matter was listed for a nine-day liability only trial, whereby the court proceeding would last nine days that focuses solely on determining if a party is legally responsible for the alleged harm or injury, without addressing damages or compensation.  

Suzanne Tate, a solicitor in our in-house litigation team represented the practice and our five members and obtained excellent strategic advice from Counsel at various stages throughout the litigation. Strong supportive expert evidence was obtained and eventually three months ahead of trial the claimant and the skydiving company both confirmed they would no longer be pursing their claims against the GP practice. 

Outcome 

Both the claimant and the skydiving company dropped their claims against the GP practice. All five Medical Protection members were over the moon with this successful outcome and sent heartfelt messages of their appreciation for the assistance Medical Protection provided when they needed it most. This is a powerful and positive example of how we were able to exercise its discretion as a not-for-profit defence organisation, rather than an insurer, to assist and fully defend our members despite them not actually having cover for the claim which was pursued against them.