MoJ claims process

MedCo has today reversed its decision not to allow remote medical examinations after pressure from its users and in light of government advice.

A costs judge was entitled to find that a case that erroneously exited the portal would have done so legitimately at some stage and so the claimant was entitled to regular, rather than fixed, costs.

Parties can agree to contract out of fixed costs, a regional costs judge has ruled. He said it was clear that a recent ruling of the Court of Appeal allowed parties to do this.

An artificial intelligence-backed “virtual assistant” to augment the work of lawyers in large loss cases is being developed by defendant law firm Keoghs as part of a suite of new tools.

A personal injury claimant has had his credit hire claim dismissed because he was the victim of a spoof Google advert that misled him into believing that he had called his insurer after the accident.

The continuing decline in number of medical reporting organisations signed up to MedCo is set to blow a £2m hole in its finances and could lead to all users being charged, it has emerged.

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.