Injury lawyers speak out on “no win, no fee” proposals
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has responded to Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke’s introduction of a green paper on civil litigation costs by saying that proposals to restrict “no win, no fee” will “hit the weakest the hardest”.
The key proposal is to abolish recoverability of success fees and associated costs in “no win, no fee” agreements, meaning that a claimant has to pay their lawyer’s success fee.
According to Mr Clarke, such a move would make claimants take an interest in controlling the costs being incurred on their behalf.
However, APIL president, Muiris Lyons, says: “The only party to benefit from this proposal is the negligent person, and through him his insurer, who will have collected a premium to cover such costs.”
He adds: “The proposal to increase damages to offset the effect of this move is a white elephant for two reasons: first, damages are now too low in any event, as, in most categories, they have never been increased in line with Law Commission recommendations; second, the proposed increase will not always cover the costs to be borne by the injured person in any event, leaving him with a shortfall in his damages.”
According to Mr Lyons, those who will be affected most are likely to be people suffering serious or catastrophic injury, where the damages involved are often very high.
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