Sports Law Triumph in the High Court for 1 Chancery Lane

Lord Faulks QC and Angus Piper of 1 Chancery Lane represented the Claimant, Freddie Tylicki, in a successful action against his fellow flat race professional jockey, Graham Gibbons, arising out of the latter’s riding at Kempton in October 2016, which led to Tylicki’s horse being brought down and has sadly left Tylicki in a wheelchair for life.

Judgment was handed down today by HHJ Walden-Smith, sitting as a High Court judge, following a 5 day trial in the Queen’s Bench Division at the beginning of the month. See Frederick Tylicki v Graham Gibbons [2021] EWHC 3470 (QB). The judge held that Gibbons’ negligent riding in the race was sufficiently egregious to meet the exacting standard that was set for actionable negligence in the sporting context by the Court of Appeal 20 years ago in Caldwell v Maguire [2001] EWCA Civ.

This is a landmark decision, and Faulks and Piper were both involved from the outset of the litigation. They were instructed by Stewart-Moore Solicitors.