UK personal injury solicitors look at US early settlement thoughts

Although personal injury solicitors in the UK work under a different set of laws to their US counterparts, it is still the case that research done in America can have an effect on the UK system and its interpretation by legal professionals.

The results of an American study in 2008, suggesting that there are great advantages to applying an 'early offer' system to business-related personal injury compensation claims, may therefore be interesting to UK legal minds.

The study's conclusions are that, as very few business personal injury claims allege gross misconduct, the vast majority of claims would benefit from an off-the-peg system that would speed up the settlements and avoid expensive court time.

One of the lead analysts wrote that a business sued under this system "is given the option within 180 days after a claim is filed of offering to guarantee no-fault-like periodic payments toward a claimant's medical expenses and wage loss beyond any other applicable coverage, plus 10 percent for attorneys' fees. There would be no compensation for pain and suffering.

"On average, the wait for payment from the time of the claim would be reduced by at least two and a half years compared with today's tort system."

Opposing viewpoints were heard within days of the research being published, pointing out that this does away with a citizen's right to be heard by a jury of his or her peers, and that it undervalues the intangible human issues that are involved in a personal injury claim, such as chronic pain or mental suffering.

"It is the intangibles that typically, from my perspective, are the more important human losses that people suffer when they are injured," said a personal injury lawyer from the Oklahoma Association for Justice.

UK counterparts may be following the progress of these recommendations closely.

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