Lord Falconer has unveiled aggressive measures, including the formation of a new Claims Standards Council, to curb Britain's compensation culture. The plans are the government's response to a Better Routes to Redress report issued by the Better Regulation Task Force.
Those in the claims management business that encourage clients to seek out and file frivolous accident claims, specifically based on a 'no win - no fee' basis, have been fairly warned. The new council will not tolerate such behaviour and companies are warned to desist.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has announced that the Tories are forming a formal commission in October which will review the 1998 Human Rights Act.
The 1998 Human Rights Act seeks to increase the power of and supplement the European Convention on Human Rights, firstly through adapting the legal system to avoid potential breaches of the convention. Should a convention right be broken, the Act allows it to be remedied by UK courts without needing recourse to the ECHR. Further, it makes unlawful any breach of the convention by a public (government) body.
The Lord Chancellor's view that Britain is in the midst of a "compensation culture" that needs to be curbed has sparked a furious response from lawyers. Lord Falconer said that the forthcoming Compensation Bill would include measures to regulate unregulated "claims farmers."
A number of legal bodies, including the Law Society, Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, and Bar Council have backed the regulation of claims firms. Solicitors attacked the Chancellor's description of a compensation culture, pointing out that there is a falling in levels of accident claims. They also questioned the benefits of the negligence law provisions.
Blackpool Council has paid out £1,072,500 in the past three years alone in personal injury claims for people injuring themselves on broken pavements in the resort town. All of the 135 claims come from five of the most damaged sections of pavement.
In an interview with Blackpool Today, Councillor Fred Jackson said, "These days everyone who has an accident has to claim and we are suffering from this." Jackson claims that the council is a victim of the growing compensation culture in Britain.
Anywhere in the United Kingdom, a brief look through your local phone book will show you that there are many lawyers who are soliciting for your business. Especially if you want to be a claimant in an accidents claim case, you will find almost no end to the number of accident solicitors who are ready to help you win your case.
Yet the selection of your accident solicitor is not a manner to be taken lightly.
Anyone who has played the game of cricket knows it is very painful being hit by a cricket ball.
Batsmen often face the prospect of having a ball hurled at them at 80 to 90 miles per hour from a distance of only 22 yards.
There for you, no-one else