Legal News

A well known academician has warned that the Jackson reforms and extension of the RTA portal would only result in lower damages for clients.

Professor Paul Fenn who is famous for his research for the MoJ on personal injury costs, said there would be earlier and lower settlements of undisputed claims, but a greater tendency to litigate because of the higher costs available outside the portal.

Fenn, Aviva chair of insurance studies at Nottingham University, said the 10 per cent increase in general damages intended to soften the blow for claimants would not be enough to make up for the fall in damages.
Speaking on the impact of the Jackson reforms he said lower costs for insurers may lead to lower insurance premiums but he was not convinced. It may see increase in litigation with defendants disputing liability more often which in not a good thing the professor said. Lower damages have the tendency of low claims.
The professor said data should be collected on the impact of the Jackson reforms and portal changes.
He welcomed Mr Justice Ramsey's comment made earlier that the need for "statistical information" would be pursued, but there needed to be "more meat on the bone".
Professor Fenn said fast-track fixed costs were overlooked because of the MoJ's focus on the RTA portal, resulting in "two different reform schemes" derived from the same process.
He said the government extending the portal was based on the insight that it was a success without proper evidence. Referring to his own research on the impact of the original portal, Professor Fenn said his call for further review had been completely ignored by the government. Meanwhile his recommendation that fixed costs should be proportionate to the damages and an inclusive approach to all fixed costs claims had not materialised.
He compared the massive cuts in RTA portal fees implemented in England and Wales on 1 May this year with the "highly proportionate" German system.
Instead of the flat rate fees of 500 for RTA claims worth up to 10,000, the German system offered a range of fees from 180 to 1125 with incremental increases depending on the size of the damages. For claims worth up to 25,000, fees ranged from 1125 to 1620.
Professor Fenn added that the latest changes had produced a "poorly designed recoverable cost scheme" with "bad behaviour penalised less often" and "good behaviour rewarded less often