Caroline Wood > Park Square Barristers > Leeds, England > Barrister Profile

Caroline Wood

0113 24597653

Work Department

Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence, Commercial & Chancery and Regulatory & Public

Position

Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
Caroline specialises in all areas of personal injury and fatal accidents, including disease, limitation hearings and clinical negligence. She acts on behalf of both claimants and defendants in claims valued from fast track to multi track and appears in courts nationwide.

Caroline has specialised in disease claims for several years. She represents both Claimants and Defendants. She is regularly instructed in noise induced hearing loss claims and is fully familiar with both the CLB Guidelines 2000 and the LCB Guidelines 2015 and also calculation of the NIL.

She has experience of mesothelioma and HAVS claims up to and including trial. In addition to trials, Caroline has appeared at numerous limitation hearings, including appeals. She attends CCMC’s on those claims allocated to the Multi – track. Caroline is familiar with the caselaw in support of Defendant’s obtaining their own medical evidence in claims allocated to the fast track. She drafts part 35 questions to engineering and medical experts.

Disease claims often involve historic employment. Caroline has advised and appeared at numerous interim hearings concerning the identity of the correct defendant, issues arising from insolvency of the defendant and TUPE transfers

Caroline is instructed on behalf of both Claimants and Defendants, including private hospitals and Defence Unions, in relation to Clinical negligence claims. She accepts CFA instructions where appropriate.

Caroline also represents interested parties at inquests into deaths in a healthcare setting, which assists with her understanding of the medical background in clinical negligence claims. She has acted pro bono for families at inquests, instructed by AvMA.

As a former solicitor she is familiar with dealing with costs. Caroline provides representation at detailed assessment hearings and regularly attends CCMC’s. She has obtained orders disapplying QOCS following findings of exaggeration and fundamental dishonesty and following strike out consequent on disappearance of the claimant. She is familiar with the rules and procedure in relation to wasted costs having obtained wasted costs orders against firms where the solicitor continued acting without instructions and following non-disclosure on without notice applications.

Commercial & Chancery

Caroline has gained extensive experience of debt recovery / enforcement proceedings such as applications for charging orders, possession hearings, insolvency, winding up and bankruptcy. She has also provided representation in respect of contractual disputes between business and consumers, involving the Sale and Supply of Goods and Services Act and the Consumer Credit Act. She also has experience of interpleader proceedings. She finds her experience of debt recovery/ enforcement assists in giving practical, commercial advice about the merits of pursuing contractual claims.

Caroline has appeared in numerous possession hearings acting on behalf of  mortgagor, mortgagee and landlord and tenant.  She has also acted in claims for disrepair, unlawful eviction and anti-social behaviour orders, injunctions and committals.

Caroline is also instructed in professional negligence claims against other professionals arising from clinical negligence and personal injury work including issuing proceedings outside limitation, an issue with which she has vast experience as a result of dealing with disease litigation on a regular basis.

Regulatory & Public
Caroline provides representation at inquests and pre – inquest reviews. She is particularly interested in inquests arising in healthcare settings, road traffic accidents and accidents at work which dovetail with her clinical negligence and personal injury practice. She is prepared to attend inquests on a CFA.

Following conclusion of the inquest, but before publication of a Regulation 28 report relating to loss of JS’s CPAP machine, the trust’s representatives wrote to the Coroner challenging the making of the Regulation 28 (PFD) report.

Caroline made representations that the Coroner had no authority to retrospectively withdraw the duty to make a Regulation 28 report relying, inter alia, on the case of R (Dr Siddiqui and Dr Paeprer-Rohricht) -v- Assistant Coroner for East London and the PFD was published thereafter.

Career

Call 1998, Solicitor 2000

Memberships

Gray’s Inn
Personal Injury Bar Association

Education

University of Wolverhampton, LLB Hons (2.1)