Timothy Connolly

Acting for personal injury Claimants and Defendants in high value claims arising from Public Liability, Employer Liability and common law negligence. Recent cases include:

• Acting for child claimant negligently set on fire at the hands of a local authority and dealing with lifelong effects of burns and attendant psychological suffering including separating suffering as a consequence of burns and that by reason of previous sexual abuse.
• Acting for young claimant who was the victim of a running down accident with potential as a professional footballer. This involved exploring the potential for a significant future loss of earnings claim.
• Acting for a visitor to a farm in a claim brought against the Health and Safety Executive as occupiers of the farm where the Claimant fell down a deep exposed gully suffering significant injury.
• Acting for a national insurer in a claim following a workplace accident and allegations of an inability to work, successfully defended using social media intelligence.
• Acting for national insurers defending multiple complex personal injury claims, often involving allegations of Fraud made against the Claimants.
• Acting for national insurer as Claimant in a case involving allegations of deceit against their own customer.
• Acting for an elderly disabled Claimant who was struck by a car whilst using a mobility scooter to cross a main road. The case was made complex by the co-morbidities of the Claimant, her life expectancy and the impact they had on the claim for future losses.

Tim leads the St John’s Buildings Civil Fraud team, which meets monthly to discuss developments and to share the latest experience of members of the team. This is done to ensure that the most comprehensive advice is available to clients in this fast-developing environment.

Tim regularly speaks at seminars attended by national insurers and Defendant Solicitors and has considerable expertise in defending claims where the Defendant alleges Fraud including consequential issues regarding costs.

On these matters Tim will typically provide advice in conference, draft pleadings and appear at procedural hearings and Trials.  His Trial advocacy style has been described in judgments as thorough, skilful and robust.

Recent experience of this type of work includes the following:

• Claim brought by insurer in deceit against their own insured following a claim made on a domestic insurance policy.
• Defending multiple claims brought by personal injury claimants instructing the same firm of solicitors, all of which involved counter allegations that the claimed injuries had not been suffered at all.
• Defending an employer’s liability claim with the use of social media intelligence to allege fraud and exaggeration in relation to the claim for special damages.
• Defending an occupier’s liability claim with a complex factual matrix including disputes about the location of alleged accident, numerous factual disputes, the type of duty owed by the defendant and issues of causation.
• Defending multiple personal injury claims with allegations of fraud and exaggeration in relation to:
  • Occurrence of accident.
  • Mechanism of accident.
  • Causation of injury.
  • Expert medical evidence produced based on false premise.
  • Causation of loss in the context of credit hire claims requiring expert evidence.
• Defending multiple personal injury claims with counter-allegations of staged/induced accidents and false allegations of occupancy of vehicles.

Before beginning his practice as a Barrister, which began in 2004, Tim qualified as a Solicitor in a commercial firm and was exposed to early practice work in commercial litigation. At the Bar, Tim has continued that interest and enjoyed a steady flow of instructions in contract/commercial work on behalf of both Claimants and Defendants. Often the work arises from alleged breaches of contractual obligations and on occasions, there is a degree of overlap between those obligations and matters of professional negligence.

Tim has experience and interest in claims arising from commercial and private contracts involving construction works, agricultural matters, rare cars and even yachts.  He regularly provides advice on paper and in conference on procedural matters, expert evidence, evidential hurdles, and prospects thereby enabling clients to decide how best to proceed.  Tim is a highly experienced Trial advocate and is known to be thorough and robust in the cross-examination of both lay and expert witnesses.

Examples of work on which Tim is often instructed include:

Contractual disputes relating to construction work on private and commercial property.

• Failure of contractor to construct in accordance with specifications and to a satisfactory standard. Expert evidence from buildings surveyors.
• Dispute relating to suitability of materials selected by contractor in high-end residential development.

Contractual disputes with allegations of breach of implied terms of consumer contracts.

• Numerous cases involving allegations of breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 relating to goods and services supplied to consumers.

Contractual disputes relating to occupation of land.

• Dispute regarding the use and extent of land let on a licence to an agricultural enterprise.
• Dispute regarding contractual access to agricultural land.
• Dispute regarding contractual right to draw water.

Contractual disputes generally in an agricultural context.

• Breach of commercial contract for the supply of produce to merchants
• Disputes involving the quality of produce supplied.

Contractual disputes relating to classic cars and yachts.

• Dispute relating to the restoration of classic car. Expert evidence from engineer.
• Dispute relating to the fitting out and restoration of a yacht. Expert evidence from marine surveyor.

• Deputy District Judge

Tim has a keen interest in classic cars, classic tractors and all sorts of boats.  He is an RYA qualified Yacht and Powerboat skipper and has sailed extensively in UK waters and the Mediterranean. He is a keen supporter of Chester Rugby Club and an enthusiastic, but inadequately skilled, skier.