Personal Injury Reform: Update Jennifer Bourne Association of British Insurers

Personal Injury Reform On 21 July, the Government published a response to consultation on Case track limits and the claims form for personal injury claims They establish a new claims process for motor claims valued under £10k

Summary of Reforms Case track limits Small claims track limit remains at £1000 Fast track limit will increase from £15000 to £25000 Claims covered New process will only cover motor claims up to a value of £10K

Summary of Reforms Claims Form A standard claim notification form introduced – sets out minimum information required for insurer to make decision Solicitors have 5 days once all info gathered to complete form Time Limits Insurers have 15 days to communicate a decision on liability Extensions to time limits will not be permitted

Summary of Reforms Binding decisions Insurer admission of liability is binding except where fraud Where contributory negligence alleged, claim falls out of process

Summary of Reforms Fixed Costs ATE premiums remain recoverable, despite there being no insurable loss Fixed recoverable costs will apply This will not include referral fees Assessment tool for general damages no longer being progressed

Summary of Reforms Determining Quantum New process to determine quantum District Judge will determine if no settlement within fixed time period. Part 36 This provision will remain, if a party has made an unrealistic offer that leads to quantum hearing, they should be penalised.

Continued Engagement with Government Despite the application of the reforms to motor claims only, after consultation it was agreed that we should engage with the Government to ensure the reforms were implemented properly, particularly with regards to fixed fees.

MoJ Workshop MoJ workshop held on 28 Aug, with reps from insurance industry and claimant law firms to work through the detail of the new process The output of that meeting has been put to a larger working group for discussion in September/October for feedback / validation before finalisation.

Next Steps There will be a further work in September/October (date TBA). A number of work streams came out of workshop, covering: MIB process Rehab BTE Settlement pack template and claim form drop down menus Fee Costs for Stage 3 of process

Next Steps Work Streams (continued) appropriate level of claimant lawyer to carry out required legal tasks within the new process, and how long that task should take The output from this discussion will then be fed back to the Advisory Council on Civil Costs