The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision on “mixed injury” cases and has ruled that the correct approach is that victims should be compensated for whiplash and non-whiplash injuries separately.

The cases of Briggs and Rabot which were originally heard at Birkenhead County Court, were expedited to the Court of Appeal to settle the long standing debate over hybrid claims.

The key issue to be addressed was;

“how is the court to assess damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity (“PSLA”) where the claimant suffers a whiplash injury which comes within the scope of the 2018 Act and attracts a tariff award stipulated by the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021… but also suffers additional injury which falls outside the scope of the 2018 Act and does not attract a tariff award?”

The Judges found in favour of upholding the County Court’s decision to award damages for both tariff injuries and non-tariff injuries, agreeing with a small reduction to account for the overlap.

Although this decision will be considered a success for claimants there continues to be much debate as to whether this does much to assist legal practitioners and county courts in how to value cases of this nature. 

Solicitors who continue to act for those claimants not wishing to pursue claims alone in the new RTA claims regime now face having to fund the cost of medical report fees whilst earning less in legal fees on successful cases to cover this cost. Disbursement write offs could eat heavily into a lower profit margin.

For this reason we have developed a cost effective ATE insurance solution for personal injury claims following a RTA occurring after 31 May 2021, which takes into account the new whiplash tariff awards and which continue to help support RTA claims being run on a CFA basis by covering the cost of all disbursements and any adverse costs in failed cases.

This is a single, easy to use policy covering all cases from small claims through to high value multi-track claims. Premiums are deferred and based on the final value of the claim.

For more information please contact us by emailing info@boxlegal.co.uk or calling 0870 766 9997