News Category 3
A Confusing Approach to Basic Hire Rates - Richard Wilcock, Palmyra Chambers
18/13/15. On the 3rd March 2015, the Court of Appeal delivered the latest assault on credit hire litigation in Stevens v Equity Syndicate Management Ltd. The Judgment delivered by Kitchin LJ and approved by Jackson & Floyd LJs considered the somewhat thorny issue of the calculation of the Basic Hire Rate or 'BHR'.
The facts of the case itself were by no means unusual. Mr Stevens hired a replacement vehicle from Accident Exchange following a non-fault accident. The total claim for hire charges amounted to £5,764.80. The Claimant was not impecunious and the evidence before the Court on rate was not from the Defendant (where the burden lies) but from the Claimant himself in the form of a BHR rates report from APU. The range of comparators within the report established that the Accident Exchange rate was, at face value, within the market range. At first instance, the Judge wrongly concluded that the appropriate BHR was an...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/sellingoutstieglitz
Latest Portal Company Data Shows Trends Which Are Not Easy to Ignore - Simon Denyer, DWF
16/03/15. February's data from the Portal Company seems to confirm the view that the reductions in the number of new claims which we had seen to all 4 of the portals over the last 2 months were merely temporary, and capable of being explained by short-lived factors such as the need for “seasonal adjustments” over the Christmas period.
Significant increases
In general, the number of new claims entering the RTA, EL, PL and EL disease portals are the highest seen over the last 3 months. The rates of increase in the new claims data for January when compared to December show the following increases, each of which looks significant:
Image ©iStockphoto.com/serggn
A Stark Reminder to Comply: Cox v Woodlands Manor Care Home Ltd [2015] (Unreported) - Johanne Johnston, John M Hayes
16/03/15. This case was heard in the Court of Appeal in January 2015 when the Cancellation of Contracts made in the Consumer’s Home or Workplace etc. Regulations 2008 were put in the spotlight. With potentially far reaching effects for the recoverability of a receiving party’s costs, consideration of compliance with the 2008 regulations will be a hot topic in future costs cases.
The Regulations
Regulation 7 provides that the client be provided with a written notice of his right to cancel the contract within a 7 day ‘cooling off’ period. Such notice must be given at the time the contract is...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/BrianAJackson
Beat The QOCS: Costs in Personal Injury Claims Following Jackson - Patrick West, St John's Chambers
15/03/15. Patrick West looks at the growing impact of one of the most important costs consequences of the Jackson reforms and what it means for Claimants and Defendants seeking to recover their costs. Cases subject to the new Qualified One Way Costs Shifting, or QOCS, regime introduced on 1 April 2013 are now starting to reach trial in numbers.
CPR 44.15 and 44.16 are among the provisions introduced by QOCS to counterbalance the attack on ATE insurance. CPR 44.13-14 are drafted somewhat clumsily. CPR 44.14 states:
"Subject to rules 44.15 and 44.16, orders for costs made against a claimant may be enforced with permission of the court but only to the extent that the aggregate amount in money terms of such orders does not exceed the aggregate amount in money terms of any orders for damages and interest made in favour of the claimant."
In effect, CPR 44.14 means that a claimant does not...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/hocus-focus
Summary of Recent Cases, March 2015
15/03/15. Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. You can also receive these for free by registering for our PI Brief Update newsletter. Just select "Free Newsletter" from the menu at the top of this page and fill in your email address..
Summary of Recent Cases - Substantive Law
Kolasa v Ealing Hospital NHS Trust [2015] EWHC 289 (QB)
In Kolasa v Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, HHJ Bidder QC considered the scope of an occupier's duty of care under section 1(4) of the Occupiers' Liability Act 1984.
The claimant sustained a serious spinal injury causing paralysis of his legs after falling a distance of 30 feet from a retaining wall outside the...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/spxChrome
More Articles...
- Totham v Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2015): Rehabilitation & the Lost Years - Daniel Clegg, DWF
- A Brief Guide to The Insurance Act 2015 - James Gibbons, Browne Jacobson LLP
- Heracles, the Hydra and Basic Hire Rates - Ian Miller, 1 Chancery Lane
- A Logical Approach to BHR - Jamie Whaling, Browne Jacobson LLP
![Appeal judge rules that credit hire company has no costs liability following a finding of fundamental dishonesty in personal injury case: RSA v. Fastrack Solutions Limited [2023] 4 WLUK 92 - David Bowden, Erimus Chambers](/content/images/resized/images/stories/carkeys_72_72.jpg)
