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“There will be legal challenges” if med neg fees set too low, SCIL chair predicts
The Department of Health (DoH) will face legal challenges if fixed fees for medical negligence cases are set at too low a level, the chair of the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers, has predicted. Stephen Webber also predicted that specialist lawyers would leave the market.
Irwin Mitchell promises “absolute certainty” with fixed-fee commercial litigation scheme
National law firm Irwin Mitchell has promised its commercial litigation clients “absolute certainty” through a staged fixed-fee scheme launched today. Meanwhile HIgh Court judges have launched their two schemes to speed up trials at the Rolls Building.
ABI demands crackdown on industrial deafness claims
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is demanding a whiplash-style crackdown on industrial deafness claims. Among the measures it is calling for are fixed fees and the extension of MedCo.
AJAG kicks off portal fee responses with plea to wait until small claims decision is made
Any changes to fixed-costs rates should only occur when the decision on the small claims limit has been made and experience gained of what the personal injury landscape looks like afterwards, the Access to Justice Action Group (AJAG) has told the government.
Government plan for mesothelioma claims process draws heavy fire from claimant lawyers
Lawyers acting on the new system for dealing with mesothelioma claims will be paid on fixed-fee basis, the government announced yesterday. There will also be a dedicated pre-action protocol and an electronic portal on which the claims will be registered. But the plan to automate the process has been strongly criticised.
Back to the future
In some ways it was Lord Justice Jackson’s intention to take us back to the 1990s. While he was not necessarily advocating a return to Rachel haircuts, Girl Power and MC Hammer trousers, he clearly felt nostalgia for the days when claimants had to pay success fees out of their damages. But it is more than just the end of recoverability that is taking up back to that era, according to a debate on life post-Jackson held in London last week by personal injury mediation provider Trust Mediation.
Law Society calls for civil justice reforms delay as thousands sign e-petition
Solicitors are trying to ratchet up the pressure on the government over the timetable for implementing the civil justice reforms, with the Law Society calling for a delay, and nearly 4,000 signing an e-petition.
Fenn report casts doubt over expansion of RTA process
There needs to be an integrated system of fixed costs for all low-value, non-litigated road traffic accident (RTA) claims before the RTA process is extended to other types and values of claim – and even then it may only have a limited impact, a major report has claimed today.
Ombudsman: legal expenses insurance is a good thing – if only consumers understood it
Legal expenses insurance is a good thing in the post-LASPO world but consumers have little understanding of it, the Legal Ombudsman warned today. He also highlighted unrealistic ‘no win, no fee’ promises and dubious fixed-fee services.
Government lays out cautious approach to extending fixed-fee system across personal injury
The government is to take an unexpectedly cautious approach to extending the road traffic accident portal regime and has ditched the idea of mandatory pre-action directions, it announced today.
