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03 February 2023 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8011 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , CPR
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Civil way: 3 February 2023

Insurers lashed by whipping; special account up; mousing to midnight; equity demands detriment; truth in the CoP; posties deemed to work; words to take your heart away

MIXED INJURIES, MIXED JUDGMENTS

At last. The Court of Appeal has spoken—two tongues to one—on the construction of s 3 of the Civil Liability Act 2018 (CLA 2018) (see ‘Civil way’, 171 NLJ 7924, p15). The question raised by the leapfrogged appeals in Hassam and another v Rabot and another [2023] EWCA Civ 19 was how the court was to assess damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA) where the claimant suffers a whiplash caught by a tariff but also suffers additional injury which falls outside the scope of CLA 2018 and does not attract a tariff award.

The majority answer, adopting the claimants’ secondary case (with another win for Benjamin Williams KC) was that the court should assess the tariff award by reference to the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/642); assess the award for non-tariff injuries on common

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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