Personal Injury/Clinical Negligence

Inadequate medical reports for claims pursued via the Official Injury Claim portal are causing unnecessary disputes over non-tariff injuries, a leading defendant law firm has said.

Little progress has been made in the plan to take test cases of so-called mixed claims from the Official Injury Claim portal to the Court of Appeal, it admitted yesterday.

National Accident Helpline has stopped accepting road traffic claims which only attract tariff damages through the Official Injury Claim portal, its listed parent company revealed today.

Clinical negligence law firms earned around £1.4bn in fees during 2021/22, an 8% increase on the year before, according to new research that also predicted Covid could lead to more claims.

NHS Resolution concluded a record 77% of claims without court proceedings in the last year but both claimant and defendant legal costs rose, its annual report has revealed.

A Court of Appeal ruling that the wording of a settlement of a personal injury claim supplanted fixed costs could have “significant” implications, including for cases that have already settled.

Frenkel Topping – the listed business building a full-service offering to personal injury and clinical negligence claimants short of actual legal advice – is raising £10m to fund further acquisitions.

The value of the medico-legal market fell by a further 5% last year, after shrinking by 18% during 2020, a report has found, with the lower end hit by the whiplash reforms and court delays.

Absolute privilege applies to communications within pre-action protocols and protects them from defamation claims, a deputy High Court master has ruled in the first such decision.

MedCo is to hold talks with the Ministry of Justice over whether the balance between tier 1 and 2 medical reporting organisations offered to claimants needs to be changed.