Personal Injury Solicitors

Dozens of personal injury claims management companies and ten personal injury solicitors’ firms are being investigated for insurance fraud by the Insurance Fraud Bureau, according to the Solicitors Journal, the leading independent magazine for solicitors and other legal professionals, providing daily news and analysis.

Sue Jones, head of unit at the Insurance Fraud Bureau, asked the managing partners of law firms to keep accurate records of clients and cases referred to them by claims management firms.

‘If insurers are saying, on a consistent basis that they don’t believe that accidents are taking place,’ she explained, ‘then you must review the situation. If you decide to turn a blind eye there may be money laundering issues.

‘If you’ve paid a referral fee to a claims management company and you end up taking money into your client account from a fraudulent claim, then you could be facilitating that fraud.’

Jones added: ‘Some of the big personal injury firms are doing a very good job, and have all the money laundering and compliance procedures they need. Others are a complete shambles. Some firms appear time and time again as being linked to claims management companies whose claims are rejected. You would think they would want to review the relationship.’

In other news, Thompsons Solicitors, the UK's trade union, personal injury and employment rights legal practice, has implemented online total reward statements for its staff in conjunction with Thompsons Online Benefits.

Thompsons, the employer of over 800 staff, decided to make the move to better employee benefit offering by improving the communication of benefits given to their employees. This allows employees to gain a greater understanding of what is available, in terms of both their benefits and the value of their total reward as well.

Vineeta Kaura, Head of HR at Thompsons Solicitors explains, ‘We wanted to improve communication with employees and decided online total reward statements would raise awareness of the value of their reward package. We really wanted employees to understand the total value of what they are receiving and become more engaged with their benefits. This is part of our strategy to become an employer of choice.’

Thompsons Solicitors selected Thompsons Online Benefits to implement a self-service system ‘PerquisiteTM’ where employees are given the option to view fully branded and personalised online statements. Employees can access their unique site via the firm intranet, where they can view their total pay and firm paid benefits.

Meanwhile, at the High Court in London, Mr David Dei-Ceci has won a case of personal injury claims with a record damages settlement of £6.3m. Dei-Ceci was aged 17, in October, 2002, when the car he was travelling in as a passenger crashed in a field. As a consequence of the accident, Mr Dei-Ceci suffered serious brain injuries, leaving him requiring 24-hour live-in care and assistance for the rest of his life.

Ged Jones, a personal injury solicitor and a Camps Solicitors associate, informs that ‘Due to changes in the law over the last few years, the court now has the power to impose periodical payments in such high value cases rather than award one lump sum, regardless of the wishes of the parties.

‘This will help to provide claimants with a future income stream throughout their lifetime and take away the risk of investing a lump sum in the precarious financial markets.’

Damages in the UK are relatively low compared to the U.S. and Europe. ‘Hopefully,’ adds Jones, ‘this landmark decision will see a significant rise in levels of damages being awarded to claimants in the future.’