The injury damages divide

The discrepancy between legal remedies for physical injury and those for injury to feelings is unacceptable, according to a senior personal injury solicitor.

Writing in NLJ this week, Diane Parker, head of personal injury at Atherton Godfrey says: “There is a large discrepancy that already exists between the levels of damages awarded for ‘bodily injury’ and those awarded for ‘name calling’.”

This reflects a class divide, Parker says, since defamation claimants are typically rich celebrities, politicians or sports stars. A labourer, on the other hand, may not have such a highly valued public reputation to defend but a physical injury could ruin their livelihood.

The government’s proposed ban on whiplash claims will only increase this divide, says Parker. “In the interests of saving motorists £50 a year on their insurance policies, thousands of injured people will be denied the derisory levels of compensation they could expect to be awarded and will lose any realistic prospect of recovering the earnings they lose while physically unable to work.”