Fixed fees judicial review

Posted: March 6, 2013

Posted in: Road Traffic Accidents Whiplash Injuries 

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) have been unsuccessful in their High Court action against the Government, which sought to overturn its decision to reduce legal costs recoverable by people injured in road accidents.

Following the judgment, APIL issued the following statement:

“Many vulnerable victims of injury will now find it impossible to obtain independent legal representation as a result of today’s bitterly disappointing judgment in the Administrative Court.

As the Government has now decided to slash lawyers’ fees in the road traffic accident claims process, many people will be left on their own to negotiate with insurers for fair and proper compensation for their injuries.

The vast majority of injured people have no knowledge of what their injuries are ‘worth’ in terms of damages, so such negotiations will inevitably be biased in favour of the insurers. A recent independent survey found, for example, that 70% of people would not know what level of compensation to claim for a whiplash injury.

This is a dark day for people who are injured through no fault of their own. We can only hope that the Government does not take this judgment as a license to continue to ride rough-shod over the needs of vulnerable people in the future.”

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