Terence Rigby

PROFILE

Terence has wide ranging experience of most aspects of common law as an advocate and as a Recorder sitting on civil and also criminal cases. His practice as an advocate has, however, narrowed over the years and is now principally in the areas of Regulatory and Professional Discipline, Employment and Personal Injury. Terence also has a very strong interest in sport and sports law and particularly in football – he is, for example, Chairman of Bolton Wanderers Supporters Trust. He has advised on employment and other contracts for footballers and football clubs and represented both in Employment Tribunals and Civil Courts.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

REGULATORY

Medical Professionals

Doctors

Terence is on the approved panel of Counsel who represent the General Medical Council in regulatory proceedings before the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. He undertakes, mostly fitness to practise, cases involving serious sexual, financial and other misconduct and a variety of performance issues. He is experienced and adept at dealing with clinical issues and expert evidence. He has taken part in the training of medical assessors for the GMC.

Some examples of cases he has prosecuted at Fitness to Practice Hearings are:

GMC v Dr V.L - where the performance of a plastic surgeon was found to be deficient.

GMC v Dr A - where a GP exchanged explicit photos with a patient.

GMC v Dr D - where a GP's performance on assessment was found to be deficient.

GMC v Dr W - where a GP falsified patients' records and procured medication for his own use.

GMC v Mr E - where a surgeon defrauded a wealthy neighbour, of very large sums of money.

GMC v Dr C – where a doctor was found to have groomed a group of schoolboys.

GMC v Dr K – where a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology was found to have failed to carry out a caesarean section in time and the baby died.

Nurses

Terence has a long history of working for the Royal College of Nurses including appearing for nurses in disciplinary hearings before the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Examples of the type of cases in which he has recently acted for nurses are:

NMC v Nurse M - where a nurse was accused of dishonesty in relation to her training.

NMC v Nurse B - where a nurse was accused of the deficient care of patients in an intensive care ward.

Dentists

Terence also has experience of the Regulation of dentists including a 2 week hearing in relation to complaints of negligent treatment of several patients against a dentist in Cardiff.

Public Authorities

Terence has a great deal of experience working for public authorities including local authorities, health authorities, education authorities and police authorities in relation to employment issues, personal injury claims and disciplinary proceedings. He has primarily been instructed as an advocate but recently acted as advisor to the Chief Constable of Cheshire in his role as disciplinary officer.

Health And Safety

Terence has considerable experience of health and safety prosecutions and as can be seen from his personal injury profile of every sort of claim resulting from the breach of Health and Safety Regulations.

Examples of Health and Safety cases in which he was involved are:

- A prosecution of a company which allowed the escape of dangerous chemical fumes from a depot in Warrington.

- A prosecution of a company which gave training to sub-aqua divers in relation to the death by drowning of a client.

- A prosecution of a waste disposal company, one of whose drivers reversed into and killed another employee.

Inquests

Terence has regularly attended Inquests in relation to a variety of fatalities from factory accidents, to deaths in hospital; to deaths in care and a death at a public event. Examples of which were:

- The death of a young girl in the care of the Local Authority.

- The death of two women when a large inflatable called Dreamscape broke away from its moorings at an event in Chester-Le-Street.

Terence is also a member of the Personal Injury Group and the Employment Group.

EMPLOYMENT

Terence has specialised in this area for many years; it is a very important part of his practice and one in which he is highly regarded.

He appears in Employment Tribunals throughout the United Kingdom and Scotland and has also appeared in Northern Ireland.

He is expert and experienced in all employment work including Trade Union and labour relations, contracts of employment and restraint of trade. He most regularly acts, however, in discrimination, unfair dismissal, redundancy, TUPE and equal pay claims.

He acts for both Claimants and Respondents. The former have included: medical and legal professionals, teachers and sportsmen. Respondents whom he has represented include: PLCs and other commercial undertakings, local authorities, NHS Trusts and other health authorities, schools and trade unions.

Some of the reported cases in which Terence has appeared are:

- Messenger Group Newspapers v NGA (Industrial Relations) [1984] 1 AER 293

- Chaudhary v BMA (Race Discrimination)(No.1) [2003] ICR 15101 (No.2) UK EAT 1951/01

- Edwards v Governors of Hanson School (Unfair Dismissal and also subsequently a stress claim which reached the Court of Appeal) [2001] IRLR 733

- Harrison v Preston Borough Council and Driver [2002] EAT154 (Sex Discrimination)

- Cumbria County Council v Carlisle Morgan (Whistleblowing)[2007] IRLR 314

- Roberts v Northwest Ambulance Service (Disability Discrimination) [2012] UKEAT 85

Terence is also a member of the Personal Injury Group and the Regulatory and Disciplinary Group in Chambers.

PERSONAL INJURY

Terence has extensive experience in most areas of common law but has particular expertise in personal injury law in which field his abilities are particularly well thought of. He is better known for representing Claimants but regularly acts for Defendants in all types of personal injury claims.

He has a substantial workplace accident and industrial disease practice and has handled many hundreds of claims involving noise deafness, hand-arm vibration syndrome, respiratory diseases, asbestos related diseases and cancers.

His considerable experience and expertise in all other types of personal injury work including high value claims for catastrophic injuries is well known. His facility with medical evidence and expert witnesses generally is a great advantage in this work and in the clinical and professional negligence claims, which are an important part of his practice. Disciplinary enquiries have been an obvious spin-off from this work.

Terence's experience of prosecuting and defending serious crime in the first ten years or so of his practice developed his well-recognised advocacy skills and make Health and Safety prosecutions an obvious development from his personal injury work.

Some of the reported cases in which Terence has appeared are:

- Ali v Courtaulds Plc (Limitation in a Deafness Claim) [1999] Lloyds Rep Med 301

- Edwards v The Governors of Hanson School (Stress in the Workplace)[2002] EWCA Civ 237

- Griffiths v Vauxhall Motors (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations) [2003] EWCA Civ 412

- Roberts v DIB Stores and Warehouse v Youngman [1998] EWCA Civ 717 (Res Ipsa Loquitur)

- AB v The Chief Constable of X Constabulary [Males J] [2015] EWHC 15 (Stress)

CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE

Terence has a strong interest and considerable experience of clinical negligence issues mostly directly in claims by Claimants, but also indirectly in his personal injury and GMC work. Examples of clinical negligence claims in which he has been involved are:

- A claim resulting from the negligent treatment of a patient by a maxillofacial surgeon.

- A claim resulting from the failure of a local cancer unit to diagnose and provide timely treatment for a patient with breast cancer;

- A claim resulting from the failure of an orthopaedic surgeon and a neurologist to diagnose and treat a cauda equina.

- In his capacity as a Recorder Terence has adjudicated on a wide range of civil claims including complicated personal injury cases for example he recently heard a claim over several days against a primary care mental health team for the alleged failure to foresee and prevent a patient’s alleged suicide and again over several days a claim by parents alleging nervous shock as a result of a surgeon’s medical negligence which resulted in the death of their child.