Cycle Accident Helpline | 0800 756 9708

Last month it was widely reported that a mother had won a 14 year battle to win compensation for her brain damaged son from the Hospital where he was born.

The case involved the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, and Clare Scott’s fight on behalf of her son Charlie.

This tragic case highlights an often unreported problem within the insurance industry.

 

In recent years the NHS, Government and Insurance lobby, often with the full support of the press, have painted all Claimant Personal Injury Lawyers as the villain of the piece – fat cat lawyers, pursuing frivolous claims at the expense of the NHS / Local Authority / Insurance Companies / Joe Public (delete as appropriate).

Unfortunately, for Claimant lawyers, the counter argument is not as sensational, and does not suit sound bite culture quite so well. Consequently they struggle to get their message across.

However this case, whilst exceptional, highlights one of the real problems that Claimant lawyers face, and one of the major contributors to the high legal costs that Defendants complain of.

It took 12 years for the Defendant to admit liability. 12 years. One can only imagine what legal costs would be run up by both Claimant and Defendant in such a period of time.

Whilst we read reports of fraudulent and frivolous claims, we see little of spurious and frivolous defences -  defences run by the self same parties who then complain of the legal costs that they have to bear.

The success of the insurance lobby, and the governments wish to reduce the amounts paid in compensation by the NHS and local councils, has resulted in a rash of legislation, much of which is to be implemented in April of this year.

This legislation will undoubtedly restrict access to justice for the innocent victims. The legislation is being rushed through, some being implemented directly against the advice of the experts whom the government have appointed to review it.

The problem of course is that with access to justice - once its gone, its gone.

You have to be a robust and well funded Claimant solicitor to run case such as the one reported – to fight for 12 years to get to the point where liability is admitted – to risk running a case for that length of time and receive nothing.

The proposed sweeping changes, reduction in costs, the inability of solicitors to insure the majority of their cases – will mean that in the near future there will not be the number of Claimant solicitors that there are today – and that those left will be more risk averse through commercial necessity.

Insurers will often tell you that they can deal with the Claimant direct – that Claimant solicitors are an unnecessary, and costly, addition to the process.

Where would that have left Clare Scott, her son Charlie – and the many thousands like them, whose claims are originally denied, only to be admitted years later, or at the door of the Court, once extensive legal costs have been built up on each side.

Gavin Hannah