A groundbreaking court, specialising only in personal injury claims, is to be established in Edinburgh. The first of its kind in Britain, the court will deal with claims for personal injury compensation from all over Scotland.
The specialist court, in which claims will be heard by experienced Sheriffs, was a key recommendation in Lord Gill´s 2009 review of the Scottish court system after it was determined that the current system – in which claimants with a claim valued at over 5,000 pounds can have their claim heard in the Court of Session – took too long and was too expensive.
Solicitors and trade union organisations have welcomed the announcement of the new court – stating that it is an important step to ensure fair judgements and consistent levels of personal injury compensation to victims of accidents at work, those injured through no fault of their own in road traffic accidents and in places of public access.
Leading solicitors in Scotland have denied that the court is necessary to cope with a growing “compensation culture”. Statistics show no real change in the number of personal injury claims being made or the settlements being achieved. “‘Compensation culture’ is just a phrase that has been created to put people off making claims and save the insurance industry money” said one solicitor. “You don’t stop claims by preventing people who are injured seeking just redress, you stop claims by preventing accidents in the first place.”
Changes will be required to existing Scottish law before the court becomes a reality, but legislation is expected to be included in the Scottish Government´s List of Bills for next autumn. It is also expected that the new personal injury court will be located in Edinburgh´s Parliament House – where personal injury cases are already heard, but in future will be presided over by Sheriffs rather than Court of Session judges.