People trying to get compensation after being hurt in road
traffic accidents face a double whammy of having to mount a claim
without legal representation or the support of medical experts,
the Law Society of England and Wales warned.
Submitting evidence to MPs on Ministry of Justice (MoJ) plans to
increase the small claims limit*, the Law Society highlighted new
research findings* that show 76% of medical experts would not
accept instructions from claimants without a lawyer.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is planning to increase the small
claims limit to £5,000 for motoring claims and £2,000 for
non-road traffic personal injury cases. This limits the
amount of legal advice and guidance that can be obtained from a
solicitor in these cases.
Law Society president Joe Egan said: “The Law Society cannot
accept that a £5,000 limit for motoring claims is reasonable. It
will mean injuries such as facial scarring, fractured ribs, a
bruised chest and whiplash to the neck will be considered as
‘small claims’, and people will be forced to seek compensation
without legal advice.
“The David and Goliath analogy could not be more apt. By raising
the small claims limit, the government is removing solicitors
from the claimant side of the process. Meanwhile, defendant
insurers will still have the benefit of trained claims handlers
who will have recourse to formal legal advice throughout the
process.”
The inability to recover costs in the small claims court means
many claimants will be deprived of legal representation and will
not be able to obtain expert evidence.
Joe Egan explained: “The steps that can be required in low-value
personal claims are extensive and can be just as complex as cases
of significantly higher value. Even so-called small claims
include complicated issues of liability and the need for expert
evidence such as medical reports. It is far from straightforward
for a lay person to get the appropriate medical evidence to
support a claim.”
The small claims process is simply not an appropriate route for
matters of this complexity. The increase in the number of
litigants in person that will result from these changes will clog
up the court system and have serious consequences for the courts.
Ends
Notes to Editors:
*The small claims court is used to deal with a certain type of
legal case. The majority of small claims cases will be those that
have been allocated to the small claims track, which limits the
amount of legal advice and guidance from a solicitor that can be
obtained.
There is a small claims limit of £10,000. But there key
exceptions to this. Currently, the limit for personal injury is
£1,000.
The results of the Bond Solon Annual Expert Witness Survey are
available here: https://www.bondsolon.com/expert-witness/survey-report-2017/
