Tilly Bailey and Irvine Solicitors Challenge The Government's Crack Down on Whiplash Claims
(PRWEB UK) 27 August 2013 -- The Government is taking action in a bid to prevent fraudulent whiplash claims. Tilly Bailey and Irvine Solicitors, one of the UK's longest established law firms is backing the claimant, stating that insurers can afford to fully compensate genuinely injured parties. TBI say the new measures may reduce access to justice for meritorious whiplash claimants.
Over 1,500 minor injury claims are made every day making Great Britain the 'whiplash capital of Europe’. David Cameron wants to stop exaggerated and potentially fraudulent claims, with motor insurers promising to pass savings on to consumers in return for government intervention.
Whiplash claims cost insurers around £2 billion each year. The Prime Minister is expected to push for further measures to identify claims that aren't genuine and encourage insurers to challenge questionable medical evidence.
Tilly Bailey and Irvine Solicitors challenges the government’s plan for reform, saying that 'fraudulent claims are a rarity'.
John Hall, Managing Partner at Tilly Bailey and Irvine Solicitors, says: “It is definitely about time insurers “put their house in order” and stopped this prejudice against bona fide claimants who are entitled to access legal help and the justice they deserve. Insurers can afford to put their hands in their pockets unlike the average person on the street who has suffered an injury. Why shouldn’t they be fully compensated for the effects an accident has had on their day to day lives?”
“This prejudice against whiplash claims has to stop. Tilly Bailey & Irvine deal with hundreds of whiplash claims and in our experience fraudulent claims are a rarity. It is only a small minority of firms that have been unethically exploiting the system.”
The Government plans to switch claims between £1000 and £5000 to a small claims court. This will cause problems for the average person making a claim as expert and medical evidence is not always submitted.
John Hall, adds: “Capping the claim limit devalues the expertise required to gain the appropriate justice a claimant deserves. Did the ban on referral fees not seek to stop claims factories? An increase in the smalls-claims court will only encourage the type of fraudulent claims the government are seeking to avoid.”
“In my 30 years experience as a personal injury solicitor the vast majority of whiplash claims are valid and it is unfair for claimants to be prejudiced against due to a small minority of legal sharks, surely access to justice should prevail”.
-About Tilly Bailey & Irvine Solicitors-
Tilly Bailey & Irvine Solicitors is the Tees Valley’s largest full service law firm with offices in Wynyard Park, Stockton on Tees, Hartlepool and Barnard Castle. It has a multi-disciplinary business law team, based at Wynyard Park, offering expertise in fields including commercial property, mergers acquisitions and disposals, intellectual property, employment and dispute resolution. For further advice, contact Tilly Bailey & Irvine Solicitors on 01740 646000 or see http://www.tbilaw.co.uk/.
Emily Felix-Davies, Ricemedia Ltd, +44 8450943770, [email protected]
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