Spiralling Or Stabilising The Compensation Culture And Our Propensity To Claim Damages For Personal Injury

The propensity of accident victims in England and Wales to claim compensation through the tort system has generally increased since the 1970s. Contrary to popular belief, however, it has remained relatively stable since 2000, if not since 1997/1998. The upward trend in claims abated, therefore, when no-win no-fee advertising achieved prominence. Whether this long-term increase in our propensity to claim supports the notion that a compensation culture has developed is largely a matter of interpretation. Our understanding of recent trends in our propensity to claim has clearly, however, been distorted through the media. This distorted legal consciousness may not only have affected our views of the tort system but may also have influenced our readiness to use it and thereby contributed to the stabilisation of accident claims in recent years.

This article considers some of the problems, real or imagined, that have given rise to the usually pejorative term 'compensation culture.' In focusing upon personal injury litigation, it looks first at the rate at which claims have increased. What might be the reasons for a greater propensity to sue following certain types of injury? Attention then turns to a topic which has been less often examined: the rising cost of each claim. Why are insurers and Health Authorities, among others, having to pay out more for each successful claim? Overall, the focus is upon the allegation that society has had to bear an increased burden as a result of the rising cost of personal injury litigation.In looking at the propensity to claim, recent developments with regard to the procedures adopted by insurers, claims management companies and claimant law firms are examined to illustrate how these institutions have influenced whether an action is brought. In looking at costs, the article describes the changes in tort damages that have taken place in recent years. Reforms have been made not only of the method by which damages are computed, but also of the form in which damages are paid: periodical payments are now common in cases involving serious injury. Damages for pain and suffering have been raised substantially without appreciating the full policy implications whilst damages for financial loss have had to be revised to match the realities of financial world. These various changes are placed in a wider context which sees the increasing cost of claims as an inevitable result of closer adherence to the principle of restoring the claimant to the financial position that was enjoyed before the injury took place. Following proposals to reinforce that principle still further, it is concluded that there will be concern about compensation culture for some time to come.

The focus of the essays in this book is on the relationship between compensation culture, social values and tort damages for personal injuries. A central concern of the public and political perception of personal injuries claims is the high cost of tort claims to society, reflected in insurance premiums, often accompanied by an assumption that tort law and practice is flawed and improperly raising such costs. The aims of this collection are to first clarify the relationship between tort damages for personal injuries and the social values that the law seeks to reflect and to balance, then to critically assess tort reforms, including both proposals for reform and actual implemented reforms, in light of how they advance or hinder those values. Reforms of substantive and procedural law in respect of personal injury damages are analysed, with perspectives from England and Wales, Canada, Australia, Ireland and continental Europe. The essays offer valuable insights to anyone interested in the reform of tort law or the tort process in respect of personal injuries.

The study of the law of tort is generally preoccupied by case law, while the fundamental impact of legislation is often overlooked. At a jurisprudential level there is an unspoken view that legislation is generally piecemeal and at best self-contained and specific; at worst dependent on the whim of political views at a particular time. With a different starting point, this volume seeks to test such notions, illustrating, among other things, the widespread and lasting influence of legislation on the shape and principles of the law of tort; the variety of forms of legislation and the complex nature of political and policy concerns that may lie behind their enactment; the sometimes unexpected consequences of statutory reform; and the integration not only of statutory rules but also of legislative policy into the operation of tort law today. The apparently sharp distinction between judicially created private law principles, and democratically enacted legislative rules and policies, is therefore questioned, and it is argued that to describe the principles of the law of tort without referring to statute is potentially highly misleading. This book shows that legislation is important not only because of the way it varies or replaces case law, but because it also deeply influences the intrinsic character of that law, providing some of its most familiar characteristics. The book provides the first extended interpretation of legislative intervention in the law of tort. Each of the chapters, by leading tort scholars, deals with an aspect of the influence of legislation on the law of tort. While the nature, sources and extent of legislative influence in personal injury law is an essential feature of the collection, other significant areas of tort law are explored, including tort in the context of commercial law, labour law, regulation and the welfare state. Essays on the Compensation Act 2006 and Human Rights Act 1998 bring the current state of the interplay between tort, politics and legislation to the forefront. In all of these contexts, contributors explore the deeper lessons that can be learned about the nature of the law of tort and its changing role and functions over time. Cited with approval in the Singapore Court of Appeal by VK Rajah JA in See Toh Siew Kee vs Ho Ah Lam Ferrocement (Pte) Ltd and others, [2013] SGCA 29

Tort Law: Text, Cases, and Materials combines incisive author commentary with carefully selected extracts from primary and secondary materials. The author introduces the fundamental principles of the subject before moving on to discuss more challenging issues, thereby ensuring a full understanding of the subject and encouraging an appreciation of the more complex debates surrounding the law of tort. The book is designed to be a stand-alone text, providing students with a comprehensive source of relevant materials in one easy-to-use volume. Online resources This text is accompanied by online resources, including: - Bi-annual updates, keeping students up to date on the latest key developments in tort law - Self-test questions on key topics, with feedback, giving you the opportunity to test your learning - Web links to reliable and accurate resources, providing a starting point for further study

The interdependent coach-athlete relationship represents the most fundamental instance of a duty of care in sport. This book defines, analyses and clarifies the duty of care incumbent upon sports coaches and identifies important recommendations of real-world significance for coaching practice. Given the dynamic relationship between coaching, sport and the law, it is imperative that coaches have an informed awareness of the evolving legal context in which they discharge their duty of care. Detailed analysis of a coach’s duty of care has so far been lacking. The book addresses this gap by being the first to critically scrutinise the concept of duty of care in the specific context of sports coaching. Sustained analysis of the developing case law allows the scope and boundaries of the particular duties demanded of coaches to be rigorously examined. The legal principles and court decisions discussed relate to coaching delivered in a wide range of individual and team sports, at both amateur and professional levels of performance, and include common scenarios and challenges frequently encountered by sports coaches globally. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach within a broader sociolegal methodological framework, this book’s detailed analysis and original insights will prove highly instructive for practising coaches, coach educators, and national governing bodies of sport. It also offers extremely valuable insights for students, teachers and practitioners involved in sports law, sports coaching, sports ethics, tort law, sports policy and development, sports studies and physical education.

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New to Hart Publishing, this is the seventh edition of the classic casebook on tort, the first of its kind in the UK, and for many years now a bestselling and very popular text for students. This new edition retains all the features that have made it such a popular and respected text, with extensive commentary, questions and notes supplementing the selection of cases and statutes which form the core of the book. Taking a broadly contextual approach, the book addresses all the main topics in tort law, is up-to-date, doctrinally sound, stimulating and highly readable.