Asela has extensive experience in claims arising from personal injury suffered overseas and is ranked in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 as a Band 1 / Tier 1 leading junior in the field of Travel Litigation.
He is regularly instructed in respect of claims under the Package Travel Regulations, including advising as to the applicability of the Regulations (1992 and 2018), dynamic packaging, incidents which occur in the course of excursions and evidence as to standards of care abroad.
Asela has considerable experiences in cases where issues of jurisdiction and conflict of laws arise and frequently acts in claims pursued in the courts of England and Wales which are determined under foreign law. He is instructed in jurisdictional disputes and in claims involving disputes of forum between England and Wales and other national courts. Asela is instructed in claims involving foreign domiciled defendants, overseas public liability insurers, foreign motor insurers and against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau for overseas road traffic accidents where drivers are untraced or uninsured.
Asela has extensive experience in pursuing and defending claims arising out of accidents and illnesses which occur in the course of air travel, in claims arising under the Warsaw Conventions and Montreal Convention. These range from air crashes to accidents during the course of carriage or during embarkation / disembarkation, as well as employers’ liability claims for cabin crew. Asela has a special interest in claims for psychiatric injury following air accidents and has written extensively on the issues arising in such claims.
Asela is frequently instructed in maritime personal injury matters, including those pursued in the Admiralty Court jurisdiction and is well placed to advise on the procedural and substantive issues which are particular to such claims. He was recently co-opted to the Admiralty Court Users’ Committee as a representative of the personal injury Bar. Asela is well-versed in claims involving the Athens Convention and Merchant Shipping regulations and has been involved in cases concerning the scope and application of such instruments. Asela is also instructed in claims pursued by crewmembers, including in LMAA arbitral proceedings.
Asela has a keen interest in claims involving medical treatment overseas. He has been instructed in numerous cases involving elective cosmetic surgery and emergency treatment overseas, including those resulting in fatalities. His work in this area often engages issues of standards of medical treatment overseas, including with pre-operative matters such as information provision and consent. Asela works closely medical experts and overseas lawyers to elicit the required evidence in such cases.
Asela also regularly advises and acts for claimants and insurers in the fields of domestic public, employers’ and motor liability. He has particular experience in claims giving rise to complex issues of medical causation and has acted both led and as sole junior in high value cases arising out of severe and catastrophic injury.
Asela also has experience in abuse claims, including those involving historic allegations and those with an international element.
