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Research commissioned by the Access to Justice Group and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has found that many people who have been able to make a personal injury compensation claim through the No Win No Fee system would have had their access to justice denied if the current Government proposals for changing the legal system had been in force. Over the past five years there have been over three million personal injury claims which means the result of these changes could be hundreds of thousands of people who will be victims of accidents through no fault of their own will be denied compensation if the current government proposals, largely based upon a report by Lord Jackson, successfully make their way through Parliament. The Ministry of Justice is looking to completely overhaul the current system amid ongoing fears of a growing ‘compensation culture’. Campaigners against the proposals point out that the ‘compensation culture’ is a myth and use the report by Lord Young, commissioned last year by David Cameron, as evidence. In his report of October 2010, Common Sense, Common Safety, Lord Young stated ‘The problem of the compensation culture prevalent in society today is one of perception rather than reality,’ The new proposals include making claimants responsible for their solicitors’ success fee as opposed to the current system where the defendant picks up the cost of the claimants legal success fees. They believe this will encourage competition and drive down costs however many people involved with the current process believe this will be at the expense of justice, especially for those on low and medium incomes who may be put off launching a compensation claim. Former Labour MP Andrew Dismore who has been leading the Access to Justice Group said: ‘The government must think again and not give in to the special pleading of the fat cat multinational insurance companies, who are the sole beneficiaries of their plans. ‘They will save millions of pounds at the expense of ordinary people who have been hurt on the roads or at work. The government’s plans are Draconian and will end access to justice for the less well off. ‘The system we have now works well and has huge satisfaction rates from those who use it.’ For more information visit http://www.paulrooney.co.uk/
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Personal, injury, claims, accident, compensation,
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