Publication of the proposed CPR amendments which was due to take place on the 4th December has been delayed, and the likely implementation date of the new rules is now May rather than April 2010. These new rules will apply to all RTA claims of between £1,000 and £10,000, and although we must all now await the text of the draft rules, the Ministry of Justice’s publication in October: http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/docs/personal-injury-claims-road.pdf gave a clear indication of what the rules are likely to contain. (Para. Nos. below refer to that publication).

What must be appreciated is that the new rules go beyond simply dealing with the new liability admitted procedure (“the Admission Procedure”) – they govern how every personal injury RTA claim worth between £1,000 and 10,000 will be commenced. Gone, for example, is a simple first letter of claim giving brief accident details. There will now be a 14 page form to complete (Annex A to the publication), and an obligation on Claimants to propose a settlement figure using comprehensive forms.

As we already know, there will be a 3 stage Admission Procedure with fixed costs at each stage: Stage 1 (Making a Claim) £400; Stage 2 (Negotiating Quantum) £800; Stage 3 (Disputing Quantum) £250/£500. A 12.5% success fee is added to Stages 1 & 2, and up to 100% for Stage 3. Further key paragraphs in the publication however, are:

3.1.1 – it will be mandatory to complete every field (except one) on the 14 page form

3.1.2 – the form must be sent electronically

3.1.3 – if all the fields are not completed, the claim leaves the Admission Procedure (and can never re-enter) but the Defendant can complain to the Court

3.1.4 – the Defendant will have 3 weeks to respond and there will be no time extensions.

3.1.5 & 8– allegations of fraud or contributory negligence will cause the claim to exit the Admission Procedure , except not wearing a seatbelt (dealt with in Para. 6)

3.1.9– the wording of the Defendant’s admission of liability will be defined

3.2.2 – there will be no fixed timetable for obtaining a medical report, but the report must now be in a set format

4.6 – there is a procedure for obtaining an interim damages payment.

5.1 – all hire and storage charges must be coordinated in a single claim, even if they are being dealt with by another solicitor/the hirer/the storer themselves

7 – children claims are fully dealt with in Para. 7 (and their costs at Paras. 7.10 + 7.14)

10 - as each stage of the Admission Procedure is completed, the costs of it must be paid by the Defendant within 2 weeks, and the same is true of damages

Comment:

Firstly the current arrangements for ATE insurance policies are unaffected. There is no requirement to delay taking out a policy until the Defendant has had an opportunity of admitting liability, and the premium remains fully recoverable at all stages of the Admission Procedure. On the contrary, Section L of the 14 page initial claim form requires you to provide details of your client’s ATE insurance, so it will be sensible to have purchased a policy by that stage at the latest.

Secondly the challenge will be for Claimant solicitors to complete a 14 page form containing 133 fields within a Stage 1 process which (if liability is admitted) carries fixed costs of £450 (£400 plus a 12.5% success fee). It is clear that the form must be submitted electronically, but it is not clear whether it will be acceptable to scan and email a handwritten form completed by a client or whether it must be typed so that it can be merged with defendant insurer systems. Where cases are received from referrers, it will be sensible to liaise with them at an early stage so that their data capture procedures minimise your subsequent work.