header-logo header-logo

Trial & error

20 April 2012 / Nicholas Bevan
Issue: 7510 / Categories: Features , Personal injury
printer mail-detail

Successive governments have failed to protect RTA victims. It’s time to act, says Nicholas Bevan

Two recent conflicting Court of Appeal decisions throw our government’s failure to implement Community law into sharp focus. In the first case, the Court of Appeal applied the correct approach to interpreting our national law in the light of European Community law and revealed a longstanding inconsistency between the compensatory safeguards provided by our state and that prescribed under Community law. That issue was referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for guidance. In the second appeal, which was heard 11 months later, a differently constituted Court of Appeal failed to adhere to the principles applied in the first. In doing so it took a wrong path that ultimately lead to its erroneous decision.

The appeals feature three separate road accidents but each had the following in common: 
  • seriously injured passengers claiming against their drivers; 
  • third party motor insurance cover in place for the vehicles in which the passengers were riding;
  • the driver responsible was not covered to drive
If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll