Personal Injury/Clinical Negligence

The Ministry of Justice yesterday raised the prospect of replacing the single personal injury discount rate with a dual or multiple rates, in the run-up to next year’s full-scale review.

Slater & Gordon has accepted a fine of nearly £82,000 for historic shortcomings in the legal services business it acquired from Quindell.

A reality TV star has been found fundamentally dishonest in bringing a personal injury claim that was undermined by what he put up on social media from Ibiza in the wake of his accident.

Now-defunct law firm Asons, a medical expert and the former boss of a medical agency brought a claim in the name of a man who had no knowledge of it, a judge has ruled.

The fact that fewer than 10% of claimants use the Official Injury Claim portal without legal representation does not mean the system has failed to deliver, the government said yesterday.

A campaign group for people injured by their healthcare is calling for more publicly funded advice and advocacy so they no longer feel that they have to go “straight to a lawyer”.

A large number of claim forms prepared by personal injury solicitors in claims exiting the Official Injury Claim portal are being returned because of errors, it has emerged.

The High Court has rejected a claimant personal injury firm’s objection to witness statements from the opposing solicitors that suggest it may be engaging in fraud.

The Court of Appeal has signalled the possibility of a non-party costs order in the Belsner case after ordering the claimant to make an interim costs payment of £130,000.

The Court of Appeal is to hear the expedited appeals in the first two cases on mixed injury claims – those involving both whiplash and non-whiplash injuries – in three weeks’ time.

Sun Capital – the private equity firm that owns top serious injury law firm Fletchers – has expanded its presence in the law by acquiring a specialist digital marketing agency.

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.