Graeme Middleton
GENERAL INFORMATION
LL.B (Hons)(Aberdeen - 1992)
Dip.LP (Aberdeen - 1993)
PRACTICE
Graeme is experienced in a wide range of civil litigation. He came to the Bar as a respected solicitor having specialised for nine years in Personal Injury and Health and Safety litigation. His principal fields of practice include:-
- Personal Injury
- Medical Negligence
- Insurance Litigation
- Commercial and Contract Litigation
Since calling, Graeme has developed a busy reparation practice, acting for both Pursuers and Defenders (including insurers and local authorities) in accident, industrial disease and professional negligence claims, including medical, surveyor's and solicitor's negligence. Disease claims include asbestos lung disease, industrial deafness, Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome, plantar fasciitis, camplylobacter food poisoning, silicosis and organo-phosphate poisoning.
He has recently been instructed in somewhat unusual claims for damages by oil company employees who were kidnapped by rebels while working abroad in Nigeria and also for the owners of a tug boat that capsized in the River Clyde, with the loss of three lives.
In the medical negligence field, Graeme has been involved in the settlement of a case where complications arose at birth, leaving a young girl with very severe cerebral palsy. The case involved difficult issues of clinical negligence and complex quantification.
Graeme also appears in commercial cases and has defended clients prosecuted under health and safety legislation. He appears principally in the Court of Session, including the Commercial Court, and also the Sheriff Court.SELECTED CASES
Reparation :
- Paul McKnight v Corus Construction [2006] CSOH 116 - industrial accident claim involving the application of the requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and a consideration of expert ergonomic and metallurgical evidence.
- John Duff v East Dunbartonshire Council & Anor Unreported, 2005 - member of public fell down a steep slope into a ravine - duties of an occupier of land under Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960 - complex conveyancing and surveying issues relating to boundary dispute between the two Defenders. The case was eventually abandoned by the Pursuer's executor after many years of litigation.
- McWilliams v Caledonian Wild Foods Ltd 2004 SLT 1027 - road traffic accident, where Pursuer sustained serious whiplash injury. The case also dealt with the wage loss claim where the Pursuer was in partnership.
- AZ Agacan v Findlay & Co - successfully argued the refusal of this appeal to the Inner House of the Court of Session, in relation to the construction of a contract for professional services and the non-payment of professional fees.
- Reid v EWS Railways Ltd [2008] - defending a proof under the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, in relation to what is believed to be the first case of plantar fasciitis (a degenerate foot disorder) in Scotland.
- Blair v Axa Insurance UK Plc & Anor [2009] - successfully defending what is believed to be the first case in Scotland concerning the construction of a policy of travel insurance, in the context of a claim by a paralysed pursuer claiming policy benefits for a ‘permanent total disability'.
Health and Safety Crime :
- HMA v Abernethy Trust & Ors - not guilty plrea accepted on behalf of outdoor activites instructor involved in a gorge-jumping activity in Dumfriesshire, when a 15-year odl girl was killed.
- HMA v Sanctuary Housing Association & Anor - a prosecution following the death of a resident in a quasi-care home, having been put into a scalding hot bath.