Once their long summer holidays are over, Parliament will hear the second reading of the Government’s Civil Liability Bill. If passed into legislation in its current draft, it will have major implications for the majority of people who are injured in road traffic accidents (‘RTA’s) .
The proposed increase in the small claims limit, to £5000.00 for soft tissue injuries sustained in RTA’s, means that injured people will no longer be able to recover legal fees or the prohibitive cost of medical reports, a key piece of evidence needed to prove you are injured.
Another proposal in the Bill is for a tariff system, fixing the compensation payable to injured people on a sliding scale, depending on how long their injury lasts for. The current awards, set out in the Judicial College Guidelines are updated annually and set by our most senior Judges, based on case law and their years of experience. The suggested tariffs, which appear in the Bill are significantly lower than those in the Judicial College Guidelines, in some cases by as much as almost 87%.
The insurance industry (who have lobbied the Government for this Bill) say that bringing an RTA claim is very simple, and that anyone will be able to do it. Do you know how to establish breach of duty, causation and establish financial losses? The insurance industry’s position is disingenuous at best, for they know full well that most people won’t want the hassle, but will insurance premiums fall as a result?
Thousands of people will be denied access to justice without the assistance of experienced legal experts. The insurance companies will still use experienced Solicitors and Barristers to represent them in Court, making things even more one-sided.
A case study example:
I recently settled a claim for a client who was driving down the A47 with her daughter, when a car, without a driver, rolled down a slip road next to a service station, ran across 3 lanes of traffic and collided with her vehicle, causing a painful neck and back injury to our client and significant damage to her car. She attempted to resolve matters with her opponents insurers directly, but got nowhere and instructed me to act on her behalf. I submitted a claim to the opposing insurance company and they denied liability saying that ‘strong winds’ had caused a parked car to leave it’s space and roll down a slip road into traffic.
Clearly, the person responsible for the vehicle had left the handbrake off, but they weren’t admitting it.
We arranged and paid for a medical report for our client, as well as funding a course of physiotherapy. We then started Court proceedings on behalf of our client. Happily, once the insurance company hired Solicitors to defend the claim, they quickly realised they were unlikely to win, and we settled the clients injury claim for £4900.00. Her injuries had caused her pain and discomfort for 12 months.
If the Civil Liability Bill comes into force then, not only would our client have had to pay for her own medical report (£216.00) she would not have been able to recover the cost of that report from the insurers if she had won her claim. She would have had to represent herself in Court (unless she wanted to pay privately) and would have been awarded just £1190.00 for the 12 month injury. Once you take into account the cost of the medical report that would have left her with a net amount of £974.00 and the stress of bringing a case in Court. Does not seem like adequate compensation for a year of pain and discomfort to you?
We are campaigning hard against the Bill and I have been lobbying our local MPs, asking them to oppose what could be one of the most unjust acts of Parliament in a generation. We hope you will help us and contact your own MP who can be located here.
Please also follow and support online campaigns at @accesstojustice and #RepairTheRightBody
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