Medical reports for whiplash claims should be free regardless of whether liability is admitted, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has said.
APIL was responding to a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) consultation on how litigants in person will obtain medical reports after the small claims track limit for road traffic accident is raised from £1,000 to £5,000 next April. Costs are not recoverable in the small claims track.
‘The MoJ’s plans are for the wrongdoer to pay the upfront cost of the medical report but only when liability is admitted or partially admitted,’ said APIL’s immediate past president Brett Dixon.
‘All an insurer will need to do is to deny liability and the claimant will most likely go away.’ People would have to pay £180 upfront for the report, he said, and could receive as little as £225 compensation under the tariff system in return for whiplash injuries lasting three months.
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