Romilly Cummerson Year called 1998 romilly.cummerson@39essex.com Clearly hardworking and dedicated The Legal 500 2014 Romilly is an established insurance practitioner, specialising in clinical negligence, personal injury, and related insurance issues. She has developed an extensive practice acting for both claimants and defendants in all types of injury-related litigation, including professional indemnity claims arising out of the negligent handling of injury litigation. Practice Areas Clinical Negligence Personal Injury Professional Indemnity Inquests Practice Areas Clinical Negligence Romilly has wide experience of claims concerning all branches of the medical professions. She has represented claimants and defendants in cases involving allegations of negligence against GPs, general surgeons, cardio-thoracic surgeons, cosmetic surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, district nurses, care assistants, opticians, and opthalmologists and has advised on a wide range of issues, including: Surgical errors, including the selection of inappropriate surgery, negligent execution of surgery and failure to recognise and treat post-operative complications
Failure to diagnose hyperparathyroidism with nephrocalcinosis, resulting in the patient s death Failure to diagnose glaucoma and negligent treatment of glaucoma and agerelated macular degeneration Failure adequately to assess the care needs of an elderly patient. In particular, failure to have regard to communication difficulties posed by advancing dementia Liability for the defective design and/or manufacture of a stent graft system Liability on the part of a private clinic to provide adequate facilities and/or nursing care Recent work: Romilly is currently instructed in a claim arising out of the alleged negligent performance of an endovascular procedure to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The claim involves interesting issues of liability and causation, inparticular with regard to the training and supervision of inexperienced surgeons and the alleged defective design/manufacture of the stent graft system used in the procedure. More unusually, the claim raises interesting questions with regard to the Defendant Trust s obligations to report to the medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency ( MHRA ) and/or the National Patient Safety Agency ( NPSA ) and potential breaches of the Healthcare Commission Core Standards. Three-day inquest into the death of a 72-year-old man from intra-abdominal complications following coronary bypass surgery. Claim for injury, loss and damage caused by the alleged negligent performance of breast augmentation surgery. The Claimant was an aspiring glamour model at the time of the surgery and sought substantial damages for loss of earnings. The claim, therefore, raises interesting issues with regard to quantum and the use of expert evidence in relation to career prospects in an unconventional industry. Claim for damages arising out of the negligent decision to treat idiopathic high arches by conducting a bilateral resection of the metatarsal heads and the proximal ends of the phalanges ( Fowler s procedure ). There were substantial arguments in relation to causation. In particular, the Claimant asserted that as a direct consequence of the damage caused to her feet, she suffered from significant symptoms of pain and restricted movement in the spine, knees and hips, which adversely affected her capacity to work and to live in a multi-storey dwelling. Computerised gait analysis technology was used successfully to demonstrate that the injuries to the Claimant s feet had caused abnormal loading of the knees and spine, which in turn resulted in pain and restriction of movement in the hips, knees and spine. The Claimant ultimately received damages in excess of 1 million net of CRU. Personal Injury Romilly is recognised in the Legal500 directory as a leading practitioner in injury law. She has extensive knowledge of injury-related litigation. Her expertise covers employers liability, public liability, occupiers liability, product liability, fatal accident claims, occupational disease litigation and motor-related claims. She provides substantive, procedural and tactical advice on liability issues and quantum and regularly
handles multi-party actions. As well as being an experienced and highly regarded advocate, she is often instructed to conduct round table settlement conferences and to represent parties in mediation. Recent work includes: Successful defence of an employer s liability claim arising out of an accident that occurred during an It s a Knockout style competition in the course of a summer fun event that had been organised by the employer as a thank you to staff. Advising a major off-shore insurer with regard to a multi-million pound injury claim arising out of a road traffic accident in the Caribbean. The claim raised difficult issues of causation and quantum, including an argument with regard to the appropriate discount factor for multipliers in a common law jurisdiction to which the Damages Act 1996 does not apply. Acting on behalf of a Claimant who sustained brain injury as the result of a road traffic accident. A trial on liability, during which the Claimant was represented by alternative Counsel, resulted in a finding of 70% contributory negligence. The claim involves complex issues with regard to the role of the Court of Protection in personal injury cases and the particular difficulties inherent in cases where there is a finding of substantial contributory negligence. Occupational disease claim brought by a site engineer who developed mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos in the course of his work as a furnace engineer. High value claim made by the owner of a small business unable to work due to chronic pain syndrome following a relatively minor physical injury. Professional Indemnity In addition to her conventional injury practice, Romilly has a particular interest in professional indemnity claims arising out of the negligent handling of injury litigation. Inquests Romilly regularly represents bereaved families, and other interested parties, at inquests. She has a particular interest in inquests involving potential clinical negligence, but her expertise also covers deaths at work, fatal road traffic accidents and deaths in the care home environment. Recent inquest work has covered the following issues: Surgical negligence
Absence of informed consent Failure to diagnose post-operative intra-abdominal complications Product liability Risk assessment procedures for the adoption of new instruments/techniques within an NHS trust GP, nursing and practitioner negligence Systemic neglect in a residential care home setting Failure to provide adequate health and safety training to employees Co-worker negligence Recommendations She has a very client-friendly manner. The Legal 500, 2015 She has excellent technical knowledge. The Legal 500, 2015 Very good at advising very nervous clients. The Legal 500, 2014 Clearly hardworking and dedicated. The Legal 500, 2014 Memberships Personal Injury Bar Association Professional Negligence Bar Association INQUEST Lawyers Group London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association Qualifications MA (Cantab) LLM (Cantab) LONDON MANCHESTER SINGAPORE KUALA LUMPUR 81 Chancery Lane, 82 King Street, Maxwell Chambers, #02-9, Bangunan Sulaiman, London Manchester 32 Maxwell Road, Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, WC2A 1DD M2 4WQ #02-16, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Tel: +44 (0)20 7832 1111 Tel: +44 (0)16 1870 0333 Singapore 069115 Malaysia DX: London/Chancery Lane 298 Fax: +44 (0)20 7353 3978 Tel: +(65) 6634 1336 Tel: +(60)32 271 1085 Fax: +44 (0)20 7353 3978