Dan Jacklin

Personal Injury

Dan is forging a reputation for achieving outstanding results in liability trials in claims on the Small Claims Track through to the Multi-Track. He is instructed on several multi-track claims worth in excess of £100k. Dan completed a specialist personal injury and clinical negligence pupillage at a leading set in London, working predominantly on cases worth in excess of £250k.

Recent work includes:

• A traumatic amputation of a farmer’s arm in an agricultural accident valued in excess of £1m.
• Worker injured when molten metal exploded near his face, causing burns and psychiatric harm, valued in excess of £350k.
• A carer strangled and dragged across the floor by a psychiatric patient during a mental health crisis, valued in excess of £150k.
• A PTSD claim for a mum who witnessed a car overtake another vehicle whilst on a zebra crossing, hitting her husband and narrowly missing her young daughter, valued at over £50k.
• A carer injured whilst trying to restrain a psychiatric patient during a mental health crisis, valued at £45k.
• A child who was supplied a defective batch of a prescription-only drug with ten times the stated dose in each tablet.
• A child who lost UL1 and UR1 in a playground accident.
• Resident injured in a fall closely adjacent to a footpath on a residential housing estate.
• Live-in carer injured in a fall on the patient’s home staircase.
• Worker injured when the gas cylinder on his forklift truck exploded.
• Worker injured in trip and fall.
• Fabricator injured when a colleague lost control of an angle grinder and fell onto them.
• Warehouse supervisor slips on leak from air conditioning unit.

Clinical Negligence

Dan undertakes intermediate and multi-track clinical negligence cases which builds on the work undertaken during his specialist personal injury and clinical negligence pupillage at a leading set in London. During pupillage, Dan completed drafting work on several cases, including: a late diagnosed diathermy injury resulting in lasting disability and a late diagnosed post-operative haematoma and emergency evacuation, resulting in cauda equina.

Recent cases:

• A vulnerable young adult with cerebral palsy and severe developmental delay who had multiple seizures during which he broke his hip caused by the failure of hospital staff to administer his epilepsy medication.
• A material contribution claim related to the late diagnosis of an acute kidney injury arising from knee replacement surgery.
• A patient who died from a staph aureus infection following a hip replacement surgery.
• A psychiatric inpatient with a complex psychiatric history, including a mixed personality disorder, depression, and anxiety who died from an overdose.
• A patient who died from complications arising from a Staphylococcus Aureus infection which followed a hip replacement surgery.
• A community mental health care patient who died from complications arising from a codeine overdose.
• A community care resident who died from heart failure following a citalopram overdose.

Credit Hire

Dan has significant experience in credit hire matters, regularly appearing for claimants and defendants on the Small Claims Track and Fast Track. He is forging a reputation for achieving outstanding results in liability trials.

Below are some examples of notable credit hire results:

• Persuaded a judge to disregard all the spot hire rates and an intervention letter to award the credit hire rate to a pecunious driver aged 23.
• Successfully resisted an attempt to challenge enforceability by establishing the hire agreement was an ‘exempt agreement’ under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2013.
• Negated the defendant’s reliance on a Copley-compliant intervention letter and achieved a finding that it was reasonable for the claimant to trust his own insurer due to his limited grasp of the English language in accordance with the dicta in Sayce v TNT [2011] EWCA Civ 1583.
• When the Claimant failed to attend court at trial, defeated a strike-out application by the Defendant, a further sanction for a failure to serve a trial bundle, and persuaded the judge to adduce a late and defective witness statement to recover repair and hire costs up to the agreed basic hire rate sum.
• Obtained permission to adduce locality evidence on the day of trial to secure a finding the spot hire rates were not in the Claimant’s ‘broad geographical area’ as per Pattni v First Leicester Busses (Bent No.2) [2011] EWCA Civ 1384.
• Established need where the claimant, a vehicle hobbyist, had access to five vehicles but had hired a vehicle on credit hire terms in any event.
• Secured the day cost of a dog kennel as a cost reasonably incurred in travelling to and from a hearing under CPR rule 27.14(2)(d).
• Reduced a claim to 9% of its pleaded value by defeating need for a hire vehicle where need for a vehicle was proven, and the claims for loss of use, recovery, and storage charges.

Licensing

Dan works across the full spectrum of licensing issues, and is developing a reputation as a successful trial advocate. He brings a wealth of experience working in senior roles across a range of regulatory topics in industry, including health and safety and environmental management.

Recent work includes:

Housing and planning

• A landlord who was subject to a notice of intent to impose a civil penalty in excess of £100k for managing an HMO without a licence and various other breaches for disrepair.
• A letting agent who was subject to a prosecution for operating an HMO without a license.
•  Breach of a planning enforcement notice by a man selling and storing cars in his back garden.

Trading standards

• Shopkeeper convicted of fourteen offences for offering for sale illicit tobacco and e-cigarette products in breach of s.92 Trade Marks Act 1994 and Regulations 7, 36, and 48 of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.
• Tradesman charged with a breach of regulation 12 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and section 92(1) of the Trade Marks Act 1994.

Food licensing

• Two directors of a coffee shop charged with multiple breaches of the Food Safety Act 1990, including the obstruction of an inspector.
• Enforcement powers for food authorities concerning import controls for porcine products from the EU post-Brexit and the associated controls around the African Swine Fever epidemic.
• Street food trader convicted of trading without a license at a pop-up event.

Taxi licensing

• PHV driver convicted of a breach of s.170 of the Equality Act 2010 for refusing to pick up a man and his guide dog.
• PHV driver spared license revocation after accruing several endorsements on his license for motoring offences.
• Hackney carriage revocation appeal by a driver following multiple over-ranking offences.
• PHV revocation appeal by a driver involved in several road rage incidents.
• PHV driver spared license revocation following a mistaken allegation of kidnapping a passenger and their child.

Environmental licensing

• Three friends convicted of a breach of s.27(1) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 for fishing without a fishing licence.

Local government

• The statutory basis and powers of a standards committee within a local authority with responsibility for code of conduct infringement.

Education

• Parent convicted of two breaches of a school attendance order after two of their children did not attend school for over two years.

Inquests

Dan uses his knowledge of psychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, eating disorders, anxiety, panic disorder, depression, and OCD to guide families, health trusts, and other interested parties through the inquest process, many of whom are encountering inquests for the first time.

Recent work includes:

• A lady who died from a staph aureus infection following a hip replacement surgery.
• A consultant doctor who died by hanging with a history of eating disorders and severe depression.
• A recently homeless man who was found dead in a canal following a period of depression.
• A man with a complex psychiatric history, including a mixed personality disorder, depression, and anxiety.
• A PhD student who experimented with alternative therapies, including illicit substances, to manage depression and anxiety.
• A man with schizophrenia who set fire to his room with a blow torch and who sustained serious burns across 20% of his body.
• A patient following hip replacement surgery who subsequently died from complications arising from a Staphylococcus Aureus infection.
• A community mental health care patient who died from complications arising from a codeine overdose.
• A recipient of social care who died from heart failure following a citalopram overdose.

Environment

As a chartered environmentalist and a fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), Dan has ten years industry experience as an environmental professional in which he has authored several training courses and guidance on various related subjects. Dan has provided training to corporate and public bodies on environmental topics for over ten years

Recent work includes:

Waste

• Colliery owner and director sentenced for a breach of section 71(2) and (3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
• Director charged with a breach of s.33(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for depositing waste in breach of an environmental permit and s.33(5) of the same for deposits from a motor vehicle.
• Fly tipper charged with a breach of sections 33(1)(a)(5) and (6) EPA 1990 for an unlawful deposit of waste and section 110(2)(a) Environment Act 1995 for a breach of a request for information.
• Littering in a public place contrary to sections 87(1) and (5) EPA 1990.

Nuisance

• A noise nuisance case involving use of a games console with amplified sound equipment in a residential estate.
• A noise nuisance case concerning barking dogs in a residential estate.

Other

• Import controls and local authority enforcement powers for porcine products thought to be affected by African Swine Fever.
• Three friends convicted of a breach of s.27(1) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 for fishing without a fishing licence.

Health and Safety

As a specialist fellow with the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM), with eight years experience as an expert witness in health and safety instructed by enforcing authorities and corporate defendants, Dan brings a unique perspective to cases which turn on expert evidence

Dan has worked on the following cases as an expert witness in this space:

• Conviction of an outdoor waterpark following a fatal drowning of an 8-year-old girl in a segregated area of a lake and inland beach contrary to section 3(1) HSWA 1974.
• Prosecution of three lifeguards after a fatal drowning of a university student in a local authority swimming pool contrary to section 3(1) HSWA 1974.
• Conviction of a leisure club after a fatal drowning of a young boy in a commercial swimming pool contrary to section 3(1) HSWA 1974 and Regulation 3 MHSWR 1999.
• Aborted investigation into a swimmer who fell onto the poolside from a diving board.
• Prosecution of a nursery after a 3 year old child had to be resuscitated after choking on a piece of loose plastic under section 3(1) HSWA 1974.
• Aborted investigation into a vulnerable swimmer who died after experiencing a seizure whilst using a public pool.

Dan is also happy to deliver training to corporate and public bodies on health and safety topics that are within his expertise.

Travel

During pupillage, Dan drafted pleadings in travel claims, including a novel claim for flights and accommodation under Regulation 29 of The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 based on the precedent set by On The Beach Limited v. Ryanair [2023] EWHC 2694 (Comm).

Much of Dan’s work as an expert witness has been working on high-value overseas personal injury and fatal accident cases in jurisdictions such as Guernsey, Spain, Latvia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, and throughout the Caribbean region. Through this experience, he has seen the pleadings, conference management, case strategy, and advocacy of many of England’s finest travel silks and senior juniors manage cases from the accident to trial or settlement.

Recent work includes:

• A claim under the Athens Convention by a passenger and their child on a cruise ship whilst in international waters in South East Asia who was exposed to isocyanates whilst the hull of the ship was being painted.

Memberships

• Specialist Fellow of the Int. Institute of Risk and Safety Management (SFIIRSM)
• Fellow of the Institute of Consulting (FIoC)
• Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (FIEMA)
• Chartered Environmentalist with the Society for the Environment (CEnv)
• Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMgr FCMI)
• Health and Safety Lawyers Association.
• UK Environmental Law Association.
• Personal Injuries Bar Association.
• Institute of Licensing.

Education

• PhD Sport and Health Sciences (viva passed, completing final amends)
• BPTC-LLM
• MSc Strategic Quality Management.
• Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Consulting
• NEBOSH National Diploma in Health and Safety Management
• NEBOSH National Diploma in Environmental Management
• LLM International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation
• LLB