News
Damages JSB Guidelines 6 December 2006
The Judicial Studies Board Guidelines for the assessment of damages in personal injury cases has now been updated with the release of an 8th edition. All the tariff increases are modest. The new edition notes that some Courts tend to divide general damages into two sections: firstly, a sum for the injury (for example £2,500 for the loss of two front teeth) and, secondly, a sum for pain and suffering (eg £1,500). This could be a transparent calculation of the way in which the JSB tariff figure is adjusted to reflect the facts of a particular Claimant's case. On the other hand, taking the JSB figure as a base compensation line to which a conventional amenity award should also be added may be a misuse of the JSB figures.
Costs of ongoing care 24 November 2006
In the case of Sowdon (2004) the Court found that the needs of a severely disabled Claimant were best met by state funded residential accommodation. This meant that the damages to be paid by the insurers were substantially reduced (because there being no need to compensate for 24 hour care at home). In the case of Freeman (2006), however, the Defendant was unable to avoid paying the costs of continuing care, with the Judge taking the view that the Claimant should be free to move around the country or abroad, without the concern or worry that her care needs would not be state funded elsewhere. Conversely, in Crofton (2006) the Judge found that a Claimant, who could not manage his own affairs and whose condition would remain unchanged, would continue to receive state funded care (and so the amount paid by the Defendant to cover the costs of that care was reduced).
There is a compromise solution, in which settlement in achieved by the Claimant receiving full damages but undertaking to claim state funded care by way of direct payments (instead of the actual care provision), and then to repay the Defendant the annual amount received from the state. In this way the Claimant avoids the risk of a shortfall in care needs if state funding is reduced or withdrawn but assures the Defendant that there won't be double recovery.
Many situations cannot be adequately dealt with by such compromise agreements and as in the case of Crofton (2006) is currently under appeal, this remains a complex area of law where specialist advice from an experienced personal injury lawyer is needed.
Injured holiday Gran loses fight for life 24 November 2006
A Wigan Grandma injured in a holiday accident can facing colossal medical bills has lost her battle for life.
Katherine Akers had appeared to be making good progress since being flown back from America where she suffered a head injury in a fall. But earlier this week the 63-year-old from Whelley took a sudden turn for the worse and appears to have suffered two major strokes from which she was unable to recover. For the full story.
Periodical Payments 23 November 2006
The introduction of periodical payments has not been a great success. Generally, Claimants prefer to manage their own financial affairs and therefore prefer a lump sum. The recent Court of Appeal decision, giving judges discretion as to which Inflation Index the periodical payments should be linked to, may make periodical payments more attractive now to many Claimants. Income and capital must, however, always be considered together and the key issue will still be the appropriate split between capital income for the individual Claimant, for which specialist financial advice must be obtained.
Sweden's Hedman gets Chelsea deal 17 November 2006
Former Sweden goalkeeper Magnus Hedman has been given a contract with Premier League champions Chelsea's third-choice keeper until the end of the season, Reuters reports. The 33-year-old came out of retirement after Petr Cech's long-term injury. He is being considered as a back-up to Carlo Cudicini and Hilario. Cech is still recovering from a fractured skull suffered last month in a league win against Reading. The Czech international had two metal plates inserted into his head and is not expected to return to training until late January. Hedman, a former Celtic and Coventry City goalkeeper, has worked as a pundit for TV4 since retiring from the game in 2005.
Legislating to make bicycle helmets compulsory for all cyclists 27 March 2006
Legislating to make bicycle helmets compulsory for all cyclists reduces bicycle usage and is bad for full-population health, argues Dorothy Robinson, Australian statistician, in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal. Read more.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit regulations 20 September 2005
Regulations are shortly due to come into force that will affect Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Claimants who are or whose partner is a long term patient. The Regulations will remove the provisions which provide for the reduction of a Claimant's application amount where the Claimant or his or her partner is a long term patient. The Regulations will come into force partly on 3 October 2005, partly on 1 April 2006 and fully on 6 April 2006.
Family Division of the High Court case 19 September 2005
A recent case in the Family Division of the High Court has confirmed that the court has jurisdiction to make an order to restrain those responsible for an adult lacking capacity from entering into a contract of marriage if it was required to protect that adult's best interests. On 28 July 2005, the court accepted expert evidence that suggested that the adult in the case did not understand what was involved in marriage and that it would be something she would not be able to cope with. The evidence suggested that, were she to get married, she would suffer serious emotional and psychological harm.