Jack Mitchell and Joe England, employment law barristers at 3PB, acted in the recent and high profile NHS whistleblowing case of Dr Raj Mattu.

9th February 2016

The facts

Dr Raj Mattu was employed as a cardiologist at the Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry. In 2001, Dr Mattu made protected disclosures concerning patient safety both on television and in printed press. He was later suspended until 2007 and by 2010 he had been dismissed.

In 2013, Jack Mitchell and Joe England represented Dr Mattu in his lengthy fight for justice. The legal papers that made up Dr Mattu’s claim ran to over 20,000 documents in 55 bundles and the Trust called over 20 witnesses in support of their case. To conquer this formidable challenge, the 3PB pair worked tirelessly and made extensive and creative use of cutting edge IT.

After a gruelling trial spanning 4.5 months, Birmingham Employment Tribunal ruled in a judgment that was over 400 pages long that Dr Mattu had suffered detriments because he had made protected disclosures, and further the Trust had failed to make reasonable adjustments for his disability and then unfairly dismissed him because of something arising as a consequence of his disability.

The remedial judgment

After a 13 day hearing, the total compensation to be paid to Dr Mattu was finalised on 3 February 2016 in the sum of £1.22 million.

For the remedy stage, Joe England was led by Jane McNeill QC of Old Square. This included the highest possible amount for Injury to Feelings.

Joe and Jack were instructed by Stephen Moore of Ashfords solicitors.

The story has attracted front page national news coverage and for further information please see the following links:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/12141401/Sacked-NHS-whistleblower-handed-1.22m-damages.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-35496603
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3432523/NHS-whistleblower-receives-1-2-million-payout-12-year-witch-hunt-doctor-highlighted-fears-patient-safety.html
https://youtu.be/naaPrJdEBao.
05/02/2016, Trish and Jo at Breakfast - BBC Coventry & Warwickshire - @ about 7.40am (position 1:34).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03g11tj#play @ position 1:39:34

3PB’s legal team

3PB’s journey in this case began when Jack Mitchell (Call 1994) represented Dr Mattu in his internal appeal in 2011 and continued for most of 2013 where Jack and Joe England (Call 2011) undertook the liability trial representing Dr Mattu at the employment tribunal. Both barristers continued to represent Dr Mattu at different stages of his remedy litigation.

Jack Mitchell

Jack specialises only in Employment Law and the commercial aspects arising therefrom - whether in Tribunal, on Appeal or in the County or High Court. Jack represents companies, plc’s, local authorities, solicitors, universities (including academic members), and individuals in all manner of contentious hearings and in particular is considered an expert in whistleblowing claims.

Jack co-authors the leading text book on Whistleblowing: Whistleblowing law and practice SECOND EDITION by John Bowers QC, Martin Fodder, Jeremy Lewis and Jack Mitchell. Published March 2012, by Oxford University Press.

Joe England

Joe is a very experienced employment practitioner and represents both sides of employment disputes in the full array of employment disputes. He appears in the EAT and at a wide range of final and preliminary hearings in the tribunal. He is particularly experienced in cases relating to protected disclosures, in and outside the NHS, and excels at document-heavy, detail-rich cases. His individual web page provides further detail and client testimonials.

Please see Joe England: https://www.3pb.co.uk/barristers/joseph-england/employment-and-discrimination/