Robert Weir QC in Snatch Land Rover appeal case
Robert Weir QC acts for the families of soldiers killed in Iraq in Snatch Land Rovers, bringing claims in negligence and under the Human Rights Act 1998 against the Ministry of Defence. In Smith and others v MoD [2012] EWCA 1365, the Court of Appeal refused to strike out the claims in negligence. The MoD had argued that the allegations made, of failing to procure suitable medium armoured vehicles for the soldiers in Iraq, were non-justiciable and anyway caught by the principle of combat immunity. The Court of Appeal disagreed and the claims can now proceed to trial.
The Court of Appeal would not depart from an earlier Supreme Court judgment on the jurisdiction of the European Convention and the claimants will now seek to overturn the decision striking out their human rights claims in the Supreme Court.
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