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PIBULJ

Are Alternative Business Structures the Way to Avoid the Referral Fee Ban? - Stuart Bushell, Managing Director, SIFA

08/12/12. The SRA’s controversial ban on referral fees in personal injury cases, which was foreshadowed by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), is due to come into force in April 2013, and the regulator’s latest consultation on the subject is due to end on 18 December. With changes to the SRA Code of Conduct due to come before the SRA Board on 23 January, many firms of solicitors are looking to set up Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) as a means of avoiding the most deleterious consequences of the ban. However, the usefulness of this route is fraught with questions to which no answer appears to be available. At first sight, the new referral arrangements look deceptively simple. There are three questions...

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Jackson Implementation, the 10% Uplift: Simmons -v- Castle - Greg Cox, Colemans-ctts

08/12/12. By the time this article is published, most followers of the Jackson reforms will know that on 10th October the Court of Appeal clarified some of the issues arising from the 10% uplift in damages by handing down its second judgment in Simmons –v- Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1288. By way of a quick recap, one of Jackson LJs recommendations was to increase the level of general damages in certain categories of cases by 10%. The purpose of this (although this proved to be somewhat contentious) was to offset the effect of Claimant’s not being able to...

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Sudden Infant Death: Was the Cot Design at Fault? - Dr Ron Somers, University of Adelaide

07/12/12. Can you trust the coroner’s investigators to correctly implicate the cot design in cases of ‘sleep accident’ or sudden infant death? Probably not, because there may have been a hidden mechanism at work, one which has only recently been quantified. So how do you know whether this mechanism was involved? There is a simple test that you can perform on the cot mattress (or any other sleep surface).

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What Is a ‘Proportionate Indemnity’ Due From an Insured Victim Who Allows an Uninsured Driver to Drive? - Ian Pennock, Parklane Plowden Chambers

07/12/12. Judgment in the important case of Churcill Insurance Company –v- Fitzgerald & Wilkinson Anors [2012] EWCA Civ 1166 has recently been handed down by the C.A. on the 24th August 2012. The Court has interpreted S.151(8) of the R.T.A. 1988 in the following manner; “Accordingly, I would prefer the interpretation advanced by the insurers and the SST. I would interpret section...

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Can costs-only proceedings be brought against the defendant’s insurer? - Matthew Hoe, Jaggards

06/12/12. Can costs-only proceedings be brought against the defendant’s insurer? That was the question in Watkins v AXA Insurance UK Plc (Manchester County Court, 14th September 2012, unreported). The answer given by His Honour Judge Bird was ‘no’. This will be a point of general interest to many solicitors and costs practitioners, not least as adopting correct...

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