Personal injury system set for change
April 5, 2011
It has been reported in the news this week that there is to be an overhaul of the ‘no win, no fee’ system when it comes to legal cases relating to personal injury in England and Wales.
In the past, those making successful personal injury claims would be awarded the damages without having to pay for their legal fees. Under the new plans, the Government has moved to introduce ‘success fees’ so that the winning client would have to pay this to the lawyer in charge of the case from the total damage amount awarded by the court.
This is certainly a shift from the current ‘no win, no fee’ practice where defendants are expected to cover the legal expenses if they lost the case in question. The move has been met with anger from critics who argue that justice will be denied to serious injury victims in the future.
The new rules have also been slammed by the incoming president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, David Bott, who argued:
“People with the most serious of injuries face being denied access to justice because lawyers will be less able to offer ‘no-win, no-fee’ in difficult, high value cases.”
It was also revealed recently that cases involving insurers and lawyers may be conducted online in order to reduce the time it takes to resolve issues and cut down on legal costs too.
