Matthew Dors

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Core Practice Area: Commercial, Insolvency, Personal Injury, Credit Hire, Property , Landlord & Tenant, Housing, Local Authority, Employment, Police and Prison Law
Call: 2004
Inn: Inner Temple
Education: LLB (Hons)

Matthew is a civil practitioner who specialises in all aspects of property related litigation, personal injury law, commercial litigation and civil actions against the Police and Prison Service. His practice is based in the south west but he regularly travels to London and further afield in appropriate cases. Matthew is regularly instructed in fast-rack and multi-track trials in the County Court. He has also appeared in the High Court and Court of Appeal as well before Leasehold Valuation Tribunals, Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Matthew is known for his friendly and affable approach and his ability to put clients at ease. Matthew always strives to provide straight forward and pragmatic advice to help clients achieve the best result possible.

Commercial
Matthew is regularly instructed in a wide range of commercial disputes including recovery and enforcement of commercial debts, contractual disputes involving interpretation of contractual terms, shareholder disputes and claims relating to agent’s commission. In accordance with recent trends in UK financial litigation, Matthew has acted both for and against a number of leading banks and financial institutions in litigation arising out of borrower or guarantor default. A significant number of his instructions in this area involve interpretation of the Financial Service and Markets Act 2000 and the Consumer Credit Acts 1974 and 2004 and concern the enforceability of various types of credit agreements.

Insolvency
Matthew has acted for and against debtors and creditors (both personal and corporate) in insolvency proceedings including hearings of contested petitions and applications to set-aside statutory demands. Matthew has also acted for and against trustees in bankruptcy and administrators in disputes arising out of the discharge of their duties.

Property
Matthew acts for both Claimants and Defendants in claims arising out of property disputes including boundary disputes, easements, adverse possession claims, TOLATA claims and claims under the Inheritance Act.

Housing
Matthew is regular instructed in all areas of Housing law including Homelessness Appeals, Possession Proceedings and Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions.

Landlord and Tenant
Matthew frequently appears in the County Court and Leasehold Valuation Tribunals on behalf of landlords and tenants in relation to all aspects of Landlord and Tenant Law including service charge disputes, forfeiture, disrepair, rent reviews and construction of leases.

Local Authority
Matthew acts both for and against local authorities in the many and varied disputes which involve local authorities in both Civil and Criminal Courts. Recent cases have included an appeal against a Noise Abatement notice which raised many complex issues as to who was responsible for the nuisance, an appeal against a planning enforcement notice under s.215 of the Town and County Planning Act and enforcement proceedings in the High Court against the directors of a company for failure to comply with planning conditions.

Personal Injury
Matthew acts for both Claimants and Defendants in all aspects of Personal Injury work. He advises regularly on complex issues relating to liability and quantum arising out of road traffic accidents, accidents at work, occupier’s liability and slipping/tripping cases. He is frequently instructed for trials in fast-track and multi-track claims and is happy to travel across the Western Circuit. He also attends Coroner’s Inquests on behalf of interested parties. He is prepared to undertake appropriate cases on a CFA basis.

Credit Hire
Matthew is well versed in the arguments surrounding this ongoing contentious area of law following the cases of Dimond v Lovell, Clark v Ardington and Lagden v O’Connor. He acts for both Claimants and Defendants in claims attached to Personal Injury claims and high value ‘stand alone’ claims. The most frequent arguments relate to issues of reasonableness, impecuniosity and ‘spot hire’ rates.

Police and Prison Law
An increasing proportion of Matthew’s practice involves civil claims against the Police for assault, unlawful arrest and false imprisonment. Matthew is also instructed on behalf of prisoners in Judicial Review proceedings relating to the administration of their sentences.

Employment
Matthew has acted for employers and employees in claims for unfair dismissal, disability discrimination and sex discrimination before Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Notable or reported cases

R v Constantine [2010] EWCA Crim 2406
The Court of Appeal gave guidance on the powers of sentencing judges to impose orders for costs in relation to the whole proceedings at the end of a confiscation hearing.

Roberts v Carlin EAT 17/12/2010
Matthew successfully argued that an employment tribunal's reasons for finding unlawful sex discrimination were not Meek-compliant since they did not provide a coherent and intelligible explanation as to why it rejected the employer's case that she had decided to dismiss the employee before she discovered the latter was pregnant.

Other Interests

In his spare time Matthew is a keen watersports enthusiast and in particular enjoys kitesurfing, sailing, and wakeboarding. In  the winter his attentions shift towards rugby and skiing.