Letter - It is unfair for claimant law to be pilloried

23/02/2006

Reading the recent editorial coverage of the Compensation Bill in Post Magazine has managed to instil those feelings and more, especially the suggestion that claimant law firms are to be regulated even further than the normal activities of our fellow solicitors.

Can anyone explain why it is alright for the drinks and gambling industries to promote and encourage the abuse of alcohol and excessive gambling while it is proposed that responsible lawyers are to be precluded from vying against each other on a level playing field to attract instructions from people who have been involved in accidents and have suffered injuries for which they are entitled under law to be compensated.

There is a market for injury claims, just as there is for alcohol and gambling. We simply wish to be free to compete for market share just like any other participant in whatever field you care to mention. We do not encourage the public to make claims and, in fact, continuing statistics from Datamonitor consistently confirm that there has been a decline in claims in recent years.

It is time that the insurance industry stopped the scaremongering and the government stopped listening to rants that are designed simply to increase returns to shareholders. As can be seen in the Republic of Ireland, savings are apparently being made from the new Personal Injuries Assessment Board scheme but premiums have remained high and insurers’ profits are soaring.

If the real issues are “spurious claims” and the misconception that a “compensation culture” exists then these should be dealt with and tackled head on, not in the guise of a slapdown upon a responsible profession.

Spurious claims, for instance, can only succeed if they are settled by an insurer or awarded by an independent judiciary. These are the areas that must be addressed in order to achieve headway.

The readers of PM are, after all, engaged in the risk business and it is up to them to manage the market, not manipulate it in their favour.

They should also remember that the liability insurance industry was created by lawyers that set out to establish justice for those who had suffered loss due to the fault of others. It now appears that insurers wish to remove justice from the equation. This must not be allowed to happen because if so the industry will simply tarnish its own image further, meaning the very people for whom the system was established will suffer the consequences. Who will benefit? Why shareholders, of course.

Diarmuid McKeown, McKeowns Solicitors, St Albans.

Original Article: Post