Prashant Popat

Product liability, negligence, contract, health and safety, inquests/inquiries.

Prashant’s product liability and group action expertise encompasses many of the largest, most involved and high-profile cases of the past 20 years. These include litigation concerning: VW NOx emissions, Metal-on Metal hip implants, PIP breast implants, Seroxat, MMR, Sabril, Benzodiazepines and Norplant. His commercial product liability practice includes Commercial Court and QB litigation and arbitrations and non-contentious advisory work concerning a variety of products, including gastric bands, fire appliances, mobile phones, motor vehicles and electronic devices. Prashant has been involved in some of the leading reported cases in this field, including Court of Appeal decisions on the substitution of parties after the expiry of the 10 year long stop provided by the Product Liability Directive (Re: Horne Roberts) and the seminal costs sharing appeal (Sayers v Smith Kline Beecham) and the European Court of Justice and House of Lords/Supreme Court decisions in O’Byrne v Sanofi-Aventis.

Prashant has been instructed by defendants in many of the largest, high profile health and safety cases (and associated inquiries and inquests) of recent times. These have included corporate and individual manslaughter prosecutionssuch as R v Hawkins (Eastbourne Pier fall), R v MNS (Glesion mine flooding), R v Woodward(Atherstone warehouse fire), R v Ward (demolition collapse), R v CAV (collapse of aviation materials), R v. Network Rail (Hatfield  rail disaster) and R v Railtrack (Slade Lane disaster).Prashant’s work for defendants charged with breaches of HSWA 1974 has included hundreds of cases including R v Rogers (Hanover Square window frame collapse), R v Falcon Cranes (crane collapse), R v HOSL (Buncefield fire), R v Network Rail (Ladbroke Grove, Potters Bar, Grayrigg and Southall disasters) and R v Davison (mine poisoning). His work has encompassed incidents in industries including construction, transport, retail, oil and gas, manufacturing and, mining. His list of clients includes BT, BP, Laing O’Rourke, Network Rail, McCain, Berkeley Group, Thames Water and Tarmac. He is also instructed in a relation to a number of ongoing investigations including those following the Grenfell fire and the Didcot Power Station collapse. In addition to private sector companies, his public sector clients have included HertfordshireFire Service and the Metropolitan Police Authority. Prashant has twice been awarded the title of Health and Safety Silk of the year by Chambers & Partners and been nominated on two other occasions. He was a founding and committee member of the Health & Safety Lawyers’ Association.

Oxford (1990 MA First Class Honours).