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April 1st is that day – we all know it is April fool’s day, so many might think what follows is our attempt at an April fool, except it’s not.

From today, the radical new personal injury reforms come into effect, which will hugely impact on the 100% compensation which has been so successful for personal injury claims.

Many may say the reforms are a good thing as they will certainly hugely reduce the massive number of whiplash claims where there has certainly been a lot of fraud and exaggeration. The problem is that the reforms are in effect taking a hammer to the proverbial nutshell in that they will also make it much more difficult for the thousands of legitimately injured and innocent victims of negligence to make claims.

The reason this will happen is that a huge number of smaller personal injury claims, by value, will now be small claims matters and in the small claims court, neither side will be able to recover costs, so any damages that are received will have to be used to pay out lawyers fees. It si entirely possible if not probable that insurers will increase a tactic they are already adept at, delaying and racking up costs on the other side to force a settlement.

Insurers are even lobbying for lawyers to be cut out of the picture altogether, arguing that they (the insurers) offer reasonable amounts in any event for accident claims and it’s the lawyers who create the problem by advising clients to push for more money for their own self interested reasons. Those who have dealt with insurers in any kind of claim would probably agree that in many cases, insurers do look to pay out the minimum only, if anything and cannot be relied upon to be fair and reasonable since, after all, they are in business to make money.

Other impacts of the reforms will undoubtedly be (and this has already started to happen) a significant number of persona injury forms shutting down and a lot of consolidation in the sector. It has always been, compared to other ;aw firm work, fairly “dog eat dog” but budgets for advertising will now be even more important, and most firms will change strategy, looking for the higher value work which will not be small claims, such as claims for medical negligence and perhaps niche but growing areas such as compensation claims for cosmetic surgery.

All in all interesting times, and just in case you still think we may be attempting an April fool, you can read more about the reforms here.

We all see and hear the regular personal injury marketing pitch on tv and radio, offering guaranteed compensation from experienced injury lawyers, and as with all kinds of marketing, the exposure derived from this type of marketing and advertising seeps into our consciousness and quite obviously, money talks and these national injury companies have been doing very well.

But does this mean that there isn’t a place or a need for local legal advice ? The way the national advertising comes across is as though injury claims are simple, you just need to instruct a lawyer and hey presto, you get paid out. well, for some types of claims that may hold true, particularly for whiplash type claims, which are often fairly straightforward.

However, when it comes to more complex cases and serious injuries, such as for example industrial accidents or serious car crash injuries or even accidents abroad, cases are seldom straightforward and it’s important to have the right advice, from an experienced solicitor you can trust. The essence of relationship between solicitor and client is based on trust, and it’s never ideal to deal with a firm somewhere else in the country with your case dealt with by a faceless solicitor you have bever and will never meet.

One law firm which certainly believes there is a market locally are Lloyd Green solicitors, who are based in Essex and have just launched a locally based campaign to promote their new website, http://www.forthepeople.co.uk. The idea behind this is local services for local people and a personal injury firm where you get to see who you are dealing with on the website and will in all probability get to meet. the firm also stresses it;s local links by supporting local charities.

What do you think about local services for local people and in particular whether it’s important or helpful to have advice form a local supplier ?

Before the event insurance

We are always surprised that few companies and individuals even know what before the event legal insurance is. Subject to the usual small print, caveat and exclusions in insurance policies, bearing in mind the cost and risk of legal issues, insurance against those costs, subject to the cost must be a good idea.

One controversial aspect of these before the event policies, which has always gone against the legal principle and professional conduct requirement that a client must be able to choose their own lawyer, is that the insurers for these policies make this freedom of choice very difficult. From the insurers point of view, particularly when it comes to personal injury claims or employment law issues they want to retain control of the case and to have specialist lawyers involved that they trust. The other view is that they want to use firms who they can negotiate bulk fees with who will assist them in influencing insureds to perhaps accept a settlement of a dispute which is less than the best they would obtain.

Anyway, a court case has now ruled that it is unlawful for insurers to refuse to pay if a policyholder’s insists on choosing their own solicitor. The rationale for the decision made in the case of  Webster Dixon v Equity Syndicate was not about freedom of choice for the insured as such but instead that the insurers attempts to force solicitors independently chosen by the insured to accept low hourly charge rates breaches European regulations

This is obviously a victory for access to justice but a likely implication will be, yes you guessed it, increased before the vent insurance premiums !

Here is a simply excellent blog post on rights to school records if you believe your child is being bullied at school and you are trying to avoid negligence litigation. The post is extremely clear and also deals with the excuses that schools may use to seek to refuse access and the underlying legal ways they may be able to avoid giving you the file, and the timescales involved. Simply excellent, well done !

Is it just me or is the world in danger of descending into anarchy ?

There seems to be almost a “perfect storm” – we have the arab spring, a seismic shift in economic power away from the West and on a micro level, unrest, anger and discontent seem to be just below the surface.

In addition to this, the writer can only vouch for the UK but in the last decade there seems to be a tangible erosion of moral values and respect for the law. On the lowest level this equates to widespread lying on mortgage applications, a general increase in fraud and greed in society. Just last night there were riots in Tottenham in London, events not seen for some 30 years. There are allegations of corruption at the highest level of society and Western Governments seem to be playing a dangerous game of “pass the parcel” in terms of the huge debts and deficits faced by Western economies.

There is much discussion on the press about “uncertain times”. This is certainly true but I would go further, I think we are moving from uncertain times to dangerous times.

What do you think ?

Saga warns on care costs for the elderly

First, the good news. A report is due to be published tomorrow, commissioned by the Government, which is likely to recommend that the considerable stress, anger and anxiety currently felt by the elderly about their homes being sold to pay for long term care costs should be somewhat allayed, with a cap on the amount they can be asked to pay. This cap is likely top be suggested at perhaps around £50,000.00.

The bad news is that if this is the recommendation, it could cost over £2 billion annually in the short term and much more in the long term as the population lives longer and it is likely the government may baulk at the cost. The other issue is that any family law changes are likely to be delayed until 2014, which will not help some 250,000 families in the short term, with costs for residential care being generally upwards of £25,000.00 per annum.

Apparently, at the moment 1 in 5 elderly people in care spend over £100,000.00 on care costs.

This article co-authored by Blackhawk Investigations & by Waring solicitors. many thanks guys.

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