Thousands of hybrid personal injury claims: Stuck in Court

What is Happening?

Claimant Solicitors are coming together to form a cross-sector working group to gain more clarity on mixed injury claims. They will develop test cases to take to the Court of Appeals in which the victim has obtained both whiplash injuries and other injuries from a road traffic accident. This has meant the claim time for thousands of clients has been subject to delay.

Why?

What is a ‘mixed injury’ personal injury claim?

In personal injury claims involving road traffic accidents, there are a large combination of injuries that victims can occur. Due to the impact of road traffic collisions, many people suffer from soft tissue muscle, ligament, or tendon injuries which are known as whiplash. This injury generally occurs when a person’s head or body is suddenly jerked  or jolted backwards and then forwards with minor or major force.

Hybrid: Mix of Injuries

While whiplash-related injuries are the most common kind of injuries that people suffer from a road traffic accident, there are many others, as follows:

  • Both drivers and front-seat passengers hit their legs or knees on the dashboard or against the seat in front
  • Passengers can get serious cuts, and scars, from objects in the car or broken glass or plastic from the car.
  • Hit elbow or head against the inside of the car, passengers get thrown about
  • Bruised elbow or hand are common as people instantly put their hand or arm out

These clients also have whiplash injuries from their collision but the two types of injuries are entirely separate injuries caused by differing circumstances. This is a ‘mixed hybrid injury’ personal injury claim, and the claim time is now at Claim Today we have represented, and successfully obtained damages compensation on behalf of thousands of clients who have made mixed injury claims for their road traffic accidents since 1999.

Report by Law Society Gazette

The Solicitors weekly publication has reported on the developments with a row brewing within the personal injury sector about the speed at which the courts can provide a clear decision on so-called ‘hybrid claims’.

Two cases being handled by a Liverpool firm have been granted permission to leapfrog the High Court and be heard in the Court of Appeal. The expedited claims could be heard as early as December 2022. Both relate to RTA claims where the victim has mixed injuries – whiplash which is covered by a tariff of damages and others which are not.

Claim Today work closely with Liverpool based Solicitors, where you are in England and Wales we provide a nationwide personal injury service and can see you at home if necessary.

One lawyer told the Law Society Gazette the current situation was causing chaos, with thousands of hybrid cases halted and no clear claim time in sight, hitting claimant firms’ cash flow. ‘More to the point, claimants either face a long wait for the test cases, or they decide to take the offer, which usually results in under-compensation,’ he added.

APIL president Brett Dixon said Robert James had every right to appeal its own cases but he suggested they would not provide the guidance that so many lawyers and clients need. ‘The Court of Appeal will want to manage all these cases together and deal with a block of issues,’ he said.

Solicitors have made the following comment in the Solicitors law magazine

Law Society Gazette

Shocking, mess, debacle, farce, inept, slow, useless and a shambles…….just a selection of words that best describe the present OIC process.

The whole process is run just like this present Government.

Seriously, you might as well have ‘The Muppets’ running the Ministry of Justice….!

This Government has a habit of not listening to advice given by people that know and instead ploughing on with reforms. Look how it recently panned out for Liz, ordinary members of the public, as here, end up paying the price.

These reforms and the last set, have so far:

1 . Left injured victims of RTA’s with little compensation that now needs the court of appeal to calculate for the – even though its ‘as easy as filling a form out’

2. Wiped out an entire industry that paid VAT, PAYE and Corp tax. Also affected the training of future legal professionals/judges

3. Wasted an immense amount of Court time

4. Allowed huge financial institutions to abuse, en masse, a strained and underfunded legal system for it’s own profit.

And what did the public gain?

What a mess. And all becasue we have after ‘relaxation’ of the rules against Maintenance and Champerty, and sensational publicity, a veritable Personal Injury “Industry” that has to tout to survive.

Yes this is a mess, yes it is outrageous that fixed fees have not gone up and I cannot see why the claimant lawyers should cooperate with any future suggestions about fixed fees – why are they not index linked? – and yes, my insurance premiums have gone up and we have double digit inflation – so what is happening and who is doing anything about this out there? Also by the way in my local county court – which in one of those new cities, nothing seems to be happening at all in civil listing. . I am waiting months on end and up to a year even for a simple half hour listing.

There is a way to sort this mess out.

1) Repeal all the changes of 31st May 2021. It is clear the OIC does not encourage unrepresented litigants with 90% being represented and no doubt prepared to hand over a large chunk of damages to their lawyers who struggle to run the cases profitably.

2) Triple the fixed fees, static since 2013, for Low Value RTA EL and PL portal cases so clients can actually retain their damages

3) Impose fixed insurance premiums for RTA EL and PL policies which are reviewed once every 12 years and we can then see how the insurers cope with a gulp of their own medicine.

Claim Today say the claim time is now no matter whether you have a Hybrid Injury or just Whiplash Call 0800 29 800 29

WhatsApp +44 7901 558 530

Email: info@claimtoday.com

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