Personal Injury/Clinical Negligence

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.

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.