Simon Cradick

Practice Areas

Simon Cradick is an expert in his field and a Legal Director in Cardiff. He advises on a variety of occupational diseases and high-value employers' liability, public liability, and road traffic claims.

He has over 30 years of experience in defendant personal injury work and also advises on product liability, policy issues and interpretation

Experience

Simon’s experience extends deep into the fields of personal injury claims, disease claims and policy issues. In some of Simon's biggest achievements he:

- Conducted the settlement of a claim for a girl left paraplegic at the age of 6 days, and settled by age 5.

- Successfully defended a claim at trial that involved an employee who was made paraplegic after an accident at work.

- Investigated and resisted a claim from a paraplegia victim against a water company.

- Authority on Occupiers’ Liability Act (OLA) claims

- Conducted many Fatal Accident Act (FAA) claims

- Defended an FAA claim involving valuation of intellectual property held by a US resident. The claim was for GBP 2.3 million but settled for GBP 600 thousand.

- Successfully investigated and resisted various other claims against health authorities and other public and private bodies. Such claims were related to stress at work and included successful trials and Court of Appeal (CA) wins.

- Investigated and successfully defended various stress claims against the public body. One claim was valued at well over GBP 1 million, and another worth over GBP .5 million, both were discontinued, and costs recovered.

- Successfully investigated and defended several repetitive strain injury (RSI) claims and handled claims for cumulative back injuries in the absence of accidental injury.

Boasting several accomplishments in disease claims, Simon has also:

- Investigated and conducted the defence of a mesothelioma claim on the grounds of de minimis exposure to asbestos, discontinued shortly before trial.

- Investigated and settled one of the first claims for mesothelioma for a family member other than the spouse. In this landmark case, the claimant had been exposed to fibres brought home on his father’s clothes when he was a child.

- Handled many claims for mesothelioma and other conditions caused by asbestos exposure, including a mesothelioma claim allegedly caused by exposure to zeolites.

- Investigated a claim for scrotal and lung cancer allegedly due to contact with highly refined mineral oils at work. The oils were not acknowledged as being carcinogenic.

- Investigated and secured the discontinuance of a claim for injuries due to electromagnetic fields (EMF).

- Handled various claims for occupational asthma and other respiratory conditions. He also managed claims related to dermatitis allegedly caused by chemical exposures.

- Advised on a potential test case for date of knowledge of hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) in the motor repair industry. The case was discontinued shortly before trial.

- Currently, Simon is acting for a local authority defendant in proceedings in the Supreme Court (SC). The claim is largely about the meaning and effect of employers’ liability policies in mesothelioma claims.

Lastly, Simon has a number of policy issue successes through which he has:

- Handled several claims involving disputes with policyholders over the extent of employers’ liability insurance cover. This involved an investigation into evidence of cover and advising insurers, including the conduct of Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) Part 20 proceedings against insurers.

- Advised and acted in a dispute between insurers over the meaning and effect of the Third Council Directive regarding claims at work. This included instances of motor and employers’ liability.

- Advised on insurer’s liability under various policies.