By Lyons Davidson Insurance Litigation: Defendant department
On 11 June, delegates, Lyond Davidson staff and invited speakers met in (a very wet and windy) North London for the Lyons Davidson Insurance Conference 2012, held at the Emirates Stadium.
The conference, hosted by Lyons Davidson’s Defendant Insurance department, brought together diverse representatives from the UK insurance industry, who were given an overview of recent developments in insurance law and practice as they relate to their sector.
The day was chaired by Trevor Still, LD’s Business Services Director, who introduced the first speaker of the day, Mark Rivers, Partner in Lyons Davidson’s Bristol Insurance Litigation: Defendant team. He examined the issue of ‘Blameworthiness and causative potency in motor cases’. After addressing the legal definition of blameworthiness, with reference to a case from the 1940s, Mark then went on to look at recent matters, including the 2012 cases of Rebecca Ann Smith v Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police (which involved a late-night reveler in Nottingham being struck by a police car responding to an emergency), and Tavares v Hudson-Rotin, a case where a pedestrian stepped out in front of a moving vehicle in a busy shopping area.
Fraudulent claims
Nigel Partridge, Partner in Lyons Davidson’s Insurance Litigation: Defendant team and substantive law specialist, was the next speaker to take to the podium. His presentation ‘Plus ça change…’ discussed change (or, rather, lack of it) in fraudulent claims. Nigel noted the influence of societal attitudes on the number of false claims being made (with some seeing them as victimless crimes or not even crimes at all) and went on to give an interesting analysis of the legal definition of fraud, looking at the concept of ‘the honest liar’ in Darg v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2009], and at the problems that can arise when fraud is alleged.
Scottish law
Nigel was followed by Emily Jeffrey, Associate at Lyons Davidson Scotland, who leads the nascent Defender team based in Lyons Davidson Scotland’s Edinburgh office. Emily gave an overview of the shifting legal landscape of Scottish law. She explained the impact of Lord Gill’s review of the court system, which calls for, inter alia, a specialist personal injury court in Edinburgh and new district judges. Emily also looked at the forthcoming Taylor review of Scottish litigation funding, now in its consultation period, which is examining the role of referral fees and speculative fee agreements in Scottish personal injury cases. Emily also gave a thorough explanation of damages in a run of fatal cases in Scotland, looking at excessive awards, in particular in Thompson and Hamilton. Since the conference, the judge’s appeal decision on these cases has been given and Emily’s commentary can be read here.
CPR rules
The final speaker of the morning was Peter Revell, the Partner who heads Lyons Davidson’s Law Costs department (Meruit Costs) based in both Bristol and New Malden. He brought delegates up to speed with recent changes in the world of costs, examining, among other things, new additions to the Civil Procedures Rules concerning proportionality and management of costs. He also looked at changes in costs relating to employment cases, spoke about new costs case law and also also discussed costs in infant cases.
After lunch, LD’s Recoveries Partner Carol Parsons took attendees on a whirlwind tour of the International Whiplash 2012 Conference, which was held in Bristol at the end of April. She distilled three days of intense academic, legal and medical debate down into 30 minutes, looking at the ways in which engineering has changed cars in recent years and the impact on injuries to occupants involved in collisions. She also examined current research into whiplash around the world, noting that there is still no diagnostic test, and summarising recent findings, including the effect of the psychological disposition of an individual on recovery times. Finally, delegates were given an overview of the legal perspectives from the USA, Germany and the UK.
Expert evidence
This talk was followed by Mark Walsh, Partner in Lyons Davidson’s Insurance Litigation: Defendant team in Solihull, who focused on cases involving children, examining the notion of the ‘reasonable driver’ using the 2011 case of O’Conner v Studdard and damages in Rehman v Brady (also discussed by Marks Rivers earlier in the day), which illustrated the need for quality expert evidence. He also contrasted infant cases with adult ones, in this instance, Belka v Prosperini [2011], in which defendant and claimant were found to equally share blame.
MOJ Portal
Penultimate speakers for the day were Paul Kelly, Senior Associate in Lyond Davidson’s Insurance Litigation: Claimant department and Caroline Blake, Partner in the Cardiff Defendant team. Their talk was split into two: Paul’s gave an overview of his experiences during the implementation of the MOJ Portal, including technological glitches, and reflected on the two years of its operation. With further changes on the horizon (due to be implemented April 2013), Paul noted that it will have taken three years for the Portal to be doing what the RTA Protocol says it should, although he also pointed out that, on the whole, it is working well. Caroline updated delegates on Lyons Davidson’s own experiences of MOJ Stage 3 Hearings, explored success rates and noted the different average awards from different courts around the country.
Forensic software
The conference’s keynote speaker was Tim Young, CEO of The Surveillance Group, who gave a fascinating overview of ‘Digital forensics: a silver bullet for whiplash?’. He talked about his company’s involvement in digital surveillance for government departments and energy companies, and the use of digital forensics software in vehicles to provide expert witness data in fraud cases to more than half of UK insurance companies. He explained how ISO 17025 accreditation means that only the interpretation of data can be challenged in the courts – not the data itself. Tim reassured delegates about the security of forensic information gathered digitally, pointing out that, while a fraudster could extract perhaps a single data sensor in a vehicle, it would be impossible to extract all of them.
After a question and answer session followed by networking and discussion over drinks – and in keeping with the surroundings – delegates then watched England’s first match in European Championship against France on the big screen (now just a distant, hopeful memory for all of us!).
