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Mark Burton
Partner
Telephone: +44 20 7667 9356
Mobile: +44 77 3095 3112

Chambers & Partners

Mark Burton

-Partner

Experience

  • Full range of liability claims, particularly employers liability (EL)/public liability (PL), motor and fatal accidents.
  • Catastrophic injury and large losses, including brain and spinal injury, amputations, multiple trauma, periodical payments, care funding, and rehabilitation management.
  • Transport claims and issues affecting the bus, rail, and haulage sectors, including a well known rail disaster and rail industry dispute resolution via CAHA and the RIDR Committee.
  • Occupational disease claims, including asbestos, asthma, silicosis, hearing loss, acoustic shock, vibration, work-related upper limb disorders, bladder cancer and stress.
  • Advising uninsured corporates on progressive solutions for their long-tail disease liabilities.
  • Test litigation.
  • Claims issues including mediation, fraud and malingering, policy coverage, insurance insolvency, jurisdiction and international claims, auditing and pre-litigation claims handling.

Directories

  • "Continues to impress" - Chambers UK, 2011
  • "Recommended" - Legal 500, 2010.
  • "He provides us with a great service and never wastes money" - Chambers UK, 2009.
  • "Consistently high level" - Legal 200, 2009.
  • "A good communicator who always comes back with a response and an opinion that he can back up" - Chambers UK, 2008.
  • "Transport claims expert" - Legal 500, 2008.
  • "Thorough, knowledgeable, tactically astute, tenacious, and a complete professional"- Legal 500, 2006.
  • Leading individual in Legal 500 since 2006 and in Chambers UK since 2008.

Major cases

  • Durham v BAI and Others - Supreme Court, 2011. The EL Policy Trigger Litigation relating to whether mesothelioma is covered at the date of exposure or injury.
  • Finster v Arriva - Supreme Court Costs Office, 2007. £1.4m whiplash claim by a City trader settled for £10,000 and leading to costs sanctions on account of exaggeration.
  • Jest v Thistle Hotels plc - Court of Appeal, 2001. Burden of proof in fraudulent EL claims.
  • Brain injury claim relating to a fall from scaffolding, featuring successful defence of £1m interim payment application and settlement of £4.2m including periodical payments order.
  • The Hatfield Derailment.
  • The Madonna Stage Collapse in Marseille, France.
  • Brain injury claim by a two year-old struck by a train after accessing the track via unfenced embankment.
  • Subtle brain injury claim by a motorist following a low speed rear-end shunt.
  • Psychiatric injury claim by a Polish migrant assaulted in the UK, involving quantum issues of loss of chance of UK earnings and assessing care regime at local Polish rates.
  • £2m stress claim by a City banker.
  • Complex regional pain syndrome claim by a helicopter pilot following a motorcycle accident.
  • Blindness claim by a scrapyard worker following a fire extinguisher explosion.
  • £1m mesothelioma claim by a managing director.
  • Contempt of court proceedings against a claimant who alleged forced retirement and was found to be still working.

Clients

  • EL/PL and motor insurers
  • Corporates
  • Transport operators and contractors
  • Local authorities

Seminars and publications

  • Co-editor of Kennedys' Catastrophic Claims Guide.
  • The role of the care expert in catastrophic claims, client workshop, October 2011.
  • EL policy trigger litigation, LUG conference, September 2011.
  • CAT claims: pushing the boundaries, client workshop, May 2011.
  • A collaborative approach to CAT claims - can it work?, client workshop, November 2010.
  • Bolton bites back, client seminar, October 2010.
  • Part 36 workshop, Lloyds syndicate, May 2010.
  • Interim payments: advantage defendants?, client seminar, April 2010.
  • Policy triggers in practice, Occupational Disease Unit national conference, March 2010.
  • Legal processes refresher, rail infrastructure controller, January 2010.
  • Quantum issues in international claims, client seminar, November 2009.
  • Asbestos disease round table, Post Magazine, October 2009.
  • Proactive claims handling, client seminar, April 2009.
  • The blame game - contributory negligence and failure to mitigate, client seminar, January 2009.

Memberships

  • Confederation of Passenger Transport, Claims and Insurance Committee
  • Forum of Insurance Lawyers