Fixed costs judicial review: “We must take action” |  | APIL has this week issued judicial review proceedings against the Lord Chancellor, challenging several aspects of new rules to extend fixed recoverable costs in personal injury cases.
APIL chief executive Mike Benner outlined the four key grounds to the association’s challenge in an email to all members yesterday afternoon (23 August).
“As you will know, we issue JRs rarely, and only in the most serious of circumstances. On this occasion, our executive committee considered that the issues of concern have the potential fundamentally to undermine access to justice for injured people and that we must take action,” he said.
Members will continue to be updated as events unfold.
A statement for the press is on the APIL website here.
*** Bank holiday hours ***
The APIL office will be closed for the bank holiday on Monday 28 August.
Normal business will resume on Tuesday 29 August.
| | Amend the Digital Bill and ban cold calls |  | APIL has called for a ban on cold calling for personal injury claims in a press release issued to national newspapers this week.
Exclusive YouGov research commissioned by APIL revealed that 134 million personal injury compensation calls and texts are estimated to have been made in the UK in the last 12 months.
“It’s time for an outright ban on intrusive and upsetting cold calls about personal injury claims, which is what the public wants,” said APIL chief executive Mike Benner.
APIL urged the Government to amend the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (No. 2) currently going through Parliament and impose an outright ban on cold calls and texts which tout for personal injury claims.
“Some 89 per cent of the people surveyed want a total ban. Our research shows strong emotional responses to calls with people left feeling angry, anxious, disgusted, or upset. It’s hardly a surprise when they are being pestered in their own homes,” he added.
Read the full press release here.
| | Recommendations to introduce pre-action protocols |  | The Civil Justice Council (CJC) has recommended the introduction of a general pre-action protocol to replace the current practice direction in the first part of its final report.
The CJC also recommends that the overriding objective in the Civil Procedure Rules should be amended to refer to the need for compliance with the protocols, and that the protocols should be made formally mandatory, except in urgent cases.
In its response to the CJC’s consultation on the protocols last year, APIL welcomed the proposal to amend the overriding objective, but warned that “urgency” as an exception to the mandatory use of the protocols may not provide sufficient flexibility.
The report also considers the development of further online portals through which parties would complete the steps outlined in the pre-action protocols. The CJC recommends that an online portal is developed for the general pre-action protocol initially, and that once this has “bedded down”, consideration can be made to introducing online portals for specific claim types.
The second phase of the final report, relating to sector specific protocols and the potential creation of new litigation specific pre-action protocols, will be published in due course.
| | New APIL analysis: What do people want in a PI lawyer |  | Reputation, price, and independent verification of quality were the top factors injured people looked for when choosing a lawyer, APIL analysis has revealed.
APIL’s dedicated research team has examined the review of the Legal Services Consumer Panel tracker survey.
Eighty-three per cent of personal injury claimants said that ‘reputation’ was an important factor when choosing their legal provider, while 79 per cent said that ‘independent verification of the quality of the service’ was important.
APIL’s review also found that most personal injury claimants were satisfied with the service they received. Furthermore, levels of satisfaction with PI legal services exceeded that of most other legal services, including conveyancing, employment disputes, and probate.
Members can look out for the next Insight email, an exclusive member benefit which contains more of APIL’s research and developments from the PI sector, on the 5 September.
For full details of the survey results, email APIL’s research manager, John McGlade at [email protected].
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