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Funding, Costs and Fatal Accident Claims: Some Particular Points to Watch - Gordon Exall, Zenith Chambers

08/05/15. Here we look at some particular points relating to the funding of fatal accidents. These matters are considered in more detail in the 3rd edition of Fatal Accident Litigation, being published by Jordans.

THE PORTALS AND  LOW VALUE  PROTOCOL

It would be unusual for a claim involving a fatal accident to fall within the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Claims. Paragraph 4.5 of the Protocol expressly excludes a case “where the claimant or defendant acts as personal representatives of a deceased person”.

 QUALIFIED ONE WAY COSTS SHIFTING

Qualified one way costs shifting (QOCS) applies to claims under the Fatal Accidents 1976 and to claims “which arise out of death or personal injury and survive for the benefit of an estate by virtue of section 1(1) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provision) Act 1934. (CPR 44.13(1)(b) & (c). The rules make it clear that the word claimant means a person bringing a claim to which that section applied or an “estate on behalf of which such a claim is brought”...

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