| Hiring a lawyer in a personal injury claim is a must-have | | | | backs these claims up with some powerful and |
| cost for anyone considering making a claim. The mere | | | | persuasive proposals: instead of today's stand-off |
| thought of going through the legal wrangling without | | | | between claimants and insurers mediated by costly |
| someone on side who knows the law intimately is | | | | lawyers intent on dragging the case out for as long as |
| enough to put most people off making a claim | | | | possible, a system for smaller claims would be set up |
| altogether. But new research from the heart of the | | | | to allow the quick and efficient passage of cases |
| lion's den itself - the Association of British Insurers (ABI) | | | | through the system. Undoubtedly, the wording of |
| - says that that freeing people from the need to use | | | | insurance contracts would have to be tightened up so |
| lawyers could slash car insurance premium rates. | | | | less room for interpretation is left to lawyers to exploit. |
| Primarily, those making claims of less than | | | | The director general of the ABI Stephen Haddrill said: |
| £25,000 would save literally billions of pounds a | | | | "Our proposals are a blueprint for a much-needed |
| year if they managed to make the claims sans lawyer. | | | | reform of the personal injury compensation system. |
| The problem lies with the extortionate legal costs | | | | Too many people are waiting far too long to get a fair |
| associated with hiring the lawyers. Out of every pound | | | | pay-out." But at what price would this 'fair pay-out' be |
| awarded in compensation to the victims of injury, just | | | | secured at? The Association of Personal Injury |
| seven pence goes to the claimant. The rest is mostly | | | | Lawyers (APIL) rightly points out that victims are likely |
| dished out to the injury lawyers themselves, with some | | | | to get far less money (albeit more quickly) overall: initial |
| charging as much as £165 an hour, the trade | | | | compensation sums offered by insurers are |
| union Unite has claimed. The result? Up to £2 | | | | by-and-large around half of that eventually secured by |
| billion a year is cruelly taken from the injured party's | | | | lawyers. APIL is unlikely to support the new proposals - |
| hands and put into that of the overpaid, unnecessary | | | | it in effect puts them out of a job - and is not quick to |
| legal teams. | | | | state how much of the victim's extra cash actually |
| So what is being proposed to combat these | | | | gets spent on them. It could actually end up being more |
| aberrations of justice? A schematic model has been | | | | than if the claimant has just settled for the insurance |
| introduced - an effective pay-out ceiling - that would | | | | company's' payout. Just having the option to take a |
| cover 95% of all claims. Instead of the highly variable | | | | smaller claim and have less hassle is surely a battle |
| methods used at the moment, a set of tariff payments | | | | won for the already hard-done by consumer, hacking |
| would be used to speed up the claims to just six | | | | their way through the thickets of insurance policy. |
| months. At present, they typically take a | | | | Jack is an author of several articles pertaining to No |
| mind-numbingly slow three-years to process - and | | | | Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Personal Injury |
| that's when the legal costs tend to mount up. The ABI | | | | Claims and other legal articles. |