Personal Injury/Clinical Negligence

The consolidation of the personal injury market following the whiplash reforms has continued in the North-West with leading firm Express Solicitors acquiring Michael W Halsall.

Checkmylegalfees came out fighting yesterday in the wake of the Court of Appeal’s criticism of its business model, pledging to keep on “holding solicitors to account”.

The possible end of court challenges to solicitors’ deductions from damages and reform of how bills are assessed are the headlines from today’s Court of Appeal ruling in Belsner.

One in four law firms impacted by the whiplash reforms have already exited that market, with more set to follow, as they look at increased marketing and M&A to grow in other areas of PI.

Leading personal injury law firm Bond Turner is suing a well-known insurance trade magazine for defamation over an article that accused it of not dealing honestly with clients.

Two cases on mixed claims in the Official Injury Claim portal – those involving both whiplash and non-whiplash injuries – have been leapfrogged to the Court of Appeal.

The Official Injury Claim portal is still not working well, with growing delays and concerns that injured people are under-settling as a result, a leading claimant lawyer said yesterday.

A solicitor panicked after realising she had missed a court deadline and under-settled her client’s personal injury claim before leading them on for more than four years about its progress.

The Ministry of Justice has rejected a call for an early review of the tariff for the Official Injury Claim portal, although personal injury solicitors are continuing to lobby for it.

The boss of NAHL plc – which owns National Accident Helpline – has urged more personal injury brands to return to television advertising after it began to reap the benefits of a new campaign.

Anexo Group – the AIM-listed business that combines credit hire and legal services – has seen revenue and profit soar but will not pay an interim dividend so as to invest in attracting more car emissions cases.

There has been a “significant” drop in the number of high street law firms offering personal injury services, while the market is concentrating among a few large firms, new research has found.

A High Court judge was wrong to refuse an adjournment sought by parents of a brain-damaged baby who lost their legal representation shortly before a hearing on withdrawing treatment.

“Potentially hostile foreign powers” could identify weaknesses in the Official Injury Claim portal and flood it with “fraudulent claims”, a report has warned.

Leading law firm Irwin Mitchell was not under a duty to advise a prospective client to notify their travel agent about an accident on holiday until the retainer was signed, the High Court has ruled.