THE COMPENSATION CULTURE: HOW MUCH IS YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY LIABLE? HERE IS A COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers This popularly received book, now published in its fifth edition by Jordans, is widely regarded as the definitive guide for practitioners dealing with claims against local authorities. If you’re a lawyer dealing with general common law and public sector claims, or a local authority or insurance industry professional, you need this book. Writing in the Foreword to this edition, Sir Roger Carnwarth, Lord Justice of Appeal/ Senior President of Tribunals – refers to this important book as ‘a valuable source of reference for judges, practitioners and students.’ The grand total of claims launched against local authorities continues to increase apace, partly because of the intrinsic nature of authorities as providers of public services such as road and pavement maintenance and repair, education, the welfare of children, the imposition and enforcement of planning controls, and more. Most claims are based on the law of tort, which is the major concern of this book, against the background, of course, of what is known as ‘the compensation culture.’ If you’re sensible enough to own a copy of this book in a previous edition, you really do need this latest one which has been completely revised and updated to take account of a long list of recent developments, of which the following are only a few examples, and include: the latest cases on general duties owed by local authorities… the development in the law relating to child abuse claims, particularly limitation… the Human Rights Act 1998 in failure to educate claims… Court of Appeal cases dealing with the duty to maintain and statutory defence under specific sections of the Highways Act 1980… and Liability for trees including Bowen v National Trust. Researched and written by a team of expert barristers and solicitors, the book contains the necessary resources for your further research, including tables of cases, statutes, statutory instruments, and European materials. The detailed index at the back facilitates looking things up. As far as we are aware, this is the only book that deals exclusively with this specialist subject so completely and comprehensively. If you’re involved professionally with any of the issues pertaining to local authority liability, this book should be regarded as an essential purchase for its comprehensive survey of local authority liability. The authors have stated that the book reflects cases decided and effective before 9 March 2012.

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