Monday 18 April 2011

The real culprits!

Amidst all the other fun and games on civil litigation, notably personal injury, funding people seem to have overlooked an interesting and authoritative slice of data that I saw mentioned in a very short column a few weeks ago.

A recent academic report has suggested that delays by defendants are driving up the costs of personal injury and clinical negligence claims. The study was commissioned by claims referrer National Accident Helpline (“NAH”) and conducted at the University of Lincoln.

Highly respected Lincoln Law School Professor John Peysner and his team analysed nearly twenty thousand cases supplied by NAH.  Delays by defendants and their insurers were found to cost an average £57.83 per day, compared with only £8.49 a day generated by all other causes of delay.

“All other causes” would include claimants and their lawyers who, according to the Association of British Insurers and some of their leading names are responsible for inflating costs of the system.

So there you have it.  An academic study by a leading authority on the subject finds out who is really responsible for pushing up your motor insurance premium. 

No surprise – it’s those that shout loudest that it’s somebody else’s fault.


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