Following the decision of the Royal Court of Guernsey in Helmot v Simon (14th January 2010) to reduce the discount rate on lump sum damages for future losses to 1 per cent, we ask Dr Victoria Wass, expert witness on the indexation of care costs in the Thompstone appeal cases, for her views.  
Why Guernsey?Any challenge […]

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Good news for claimants.  Proposals originally published by the Law commission in 1999 are finally becoming law once the appropriate statutory instrument is laid before Parliament.  Amongst other things in the new Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Bill will enable claims to be made against dissolved companies directly without having to go through the time-consuming […]

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The Ministry of Justice has announced that it has no intention of reversing the house of Lords decision in Rothwell v Chemical and Insulating Co Ltd.  In that case the House of Lords denied the long-standing right to compensation of those suffering from pleural plaque on what many regard as questionable legal grounds.  In Scotland […]

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The Government was questioned twice in as many days last week about whether pleural plaques will be considered a disease worthy of compensation, with Gordon Brown quizzed about progress on a decision during Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday (6 January).
It has been 27 months since pleural plaques victims were denied compensation by the House of Lords […]

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The Association of British Insurers, some of whose members do themselves charge solicitors fees for sending them cases, claim that the level of costs in personal injury claims is out of all proportion partly because the payment of referral fees is pushing up those costs. Referral fees are once again the whipping boy.
I have always […]

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It has been said the best form of disinfectant is sunlight.
It is good news that the BBC Money Box programme has recently run a piece on insurers’ practice of third party capture.
This involves the insurer of the guilty party making speedy (unrequested) contact with the injured victim of the accident, and trying to settle their […]

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A recent house of Lords judgment confirmed an old legal maxim. 
Mr Gray was a passenger in the Ladbrook Road Train Crash in October 1999. Although not badly hurt physically he subsequently developed severe post traumatic stress disorder and depression.
In August 2001 he was involved in an altercation and, as a result of his psychological condition, he stabbed the other […]

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The Government has announced week that osteoarthritis of the knee in coal miners is to be added to the Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit Scheme. This means that any miner who worked underground for more than ten years prior to 1986 and has developed osteoarthritis will be entitled to claim the benefit. It will come into effect on 13 […]

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Four insurance companies, AXA, Norwich Union, Royal and Sun Alliance and Zurich asked the Scottish Court of Session to stop the Scottish Government bringing into force new laws which would reverse the House of Lords decision that pleural plaque is not a condition for which compensation can be recovered. This legislation has restored the right […]

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It is good news that the Damages (Asbestos - Related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill made its way through the Scottish Parliament restoring the right of those suffering from asbestos related pleural plaque to pursue claims for compensation, assuming they have been negligently exposed to asbestos.
The Bill had strong support, being approved by a majority of 98 […]

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