The power of prayer
and first-class counsel
Just 50 years ago and straight from
local government I joined Mayo &
Perkins, then a small firm with two
other active partners and a staff of
about eight. Since on that first day
I had a clean desk, it was thought it
should be burdened with the vast file
of the largest civil litigation case to
come to the firm for many years.
Our client was a civil engineering
company which, in the course of
realigning and widening part of
Hastings seafront, had used a rapid
concrete-breaker to break up the
surface of the old road. This rapid
breaker worked by dropping a heavy
weight under pressure to smash
concrete but it was less than ideal
equipment when there was a gas main
just three feet under the surface. In
the result, the main had been broken
in several places, the gas percolating
through the shingle beneath the road
and into nearby basements and a
spark from a refrigerator had caused a
massive explosion. Several properties
had been destroyed or damaged
(even today there is a gap where one
property was never rebuilt) and several
82
people had been severely injured. The
claims against our client were massive
and the insurance cover limited.
We instructed as junior counsel Harry
Woolf, later to become Baron Woolf and
a renowned Lord Chief Justice. These
were the very early days of Harry Woolf’s
career so I rang his clerk to ask if the
case was perhaps too heavy for him.
“Mr Woolf has been running around
Chambers all day with the biggest smile
on his face” was the reply.
As leading counsel, we instructed Tasker
Watkins QC, VC. He had been awarded
the Victoria Cross in the Normandy
Campaign when, as a lieutenant under
cover of darkness, he had singlehandedly engaged a German machine
gun post and taken it out to ensure the
safety of his unit. Tasker Watkins was
later to become Deputy Chief Justice.
This was my first experience of civil
litigation and, such was the pressure of
work and such was the responsibility,
I had to sit throughout the High Court
hearing on a doughnut shaped inflatable
cushion to relieve the pain of my piles!
But if ever the outcome of a case
depended on the skills of counsel, this
was it. The judge decided that the main
liability lay with the gas company, which
had made grave errors in preparing the
plan showing the position of the gas
main. Hastings Council had to bear
some responsibility for agreeing the use
of the concrete breaker and our client’s
liability was so limited that all claims
would be met within the limits of the
insurance cover.
I rang the managing director of our client
company with the news that his company
had been saved and I asked him why
he had not appeared at any stage of
the hearing but had relied entirely on
his senior staff. He explained that he
had spent much time at prayer and had
received assurance that all would be well.
I never heard from him again.
Moral: Engage Brilliant Counsel and
Praise the Lord.
By John Boyle