MoJ claims process

A defendant who settles a claim that leaves the RTA protocol with a part 36 offer including the usual wording about paying costs on the standard basis is not contracting out of fixed costs, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

A circuit judge was wrong to find that an employer’s liability claim automatically exited the protocol because the defendent challenged the late service of evidence at the stage 3 hearing, the appeal court has ruled.

The absence of rehabilitation from the new whiplash regime risks “unintended and ill-considered consequences”, a group of leading rehabilitation and medical reporting organisations has warned.

Counsel’s fees for an opinion on quantum in a traffic accident involving a child are included in the fixed costs for the case and cannot be claimed separately, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

A claimant is facing a bill of over £400,000 in credit hire charges plus legal costs after a county court found that the car she collided with was stationary.

A personal injury claimant who lied over whether he had credit cards which could have been used to pay for a replacement car, instead of credit hire, was fundamentally dishonest, the High Court has ruled.

A judge has upheld the striking out of a £2.6m personal injury claim which remained in the RTA portal for almost four years before the claimants admitted it should be transferred.

A circuit judge has ruled that a failure in a portal case to include the same damages figure in the stage 3 court proceedings pack as in the stage 2 settlement pack form renders the offer void.

The ‘exceptional circumstances’ test by which claimants whose cases exit the RTA portal can claim more than fixed recoverable costs is a high, rather than a low, bar, the High Court has held.

MedCo should be modified to accommodate unrepresented claimants as part of next year’s rise in the small claims limit for road traffic accident-related personal injury claims, the Ministry of Justice said today.