Rob Weir KC and Sam Way in Supreme Court Case on Mixed Injuries under the Whiplash Tariff
In Hassam v Rabot [2024] UKSC 11 the Supreme Court has given guidance as to the method for assessing damages where a Claimant has suffered both a whiplash injury that attracts a tariff award under the Civil Liability Act 2018 and the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, and another injury which has caused pain, suffering and loss of amenity which overlaps that caused by the whiplash injury.
Upholding the Court of Appeal’s decision, the Supreme Court held that the proper approach to valuing such claims is that set out in Sadler v Filipiak [2011] EWCA Civ 1178 of adding together the awards for each injury, then standing back to consider what overall award amounts represents full compensation for the injuries suffered. When doing so, a Court must recognise that the award for the whiplash injury is lower than it would have been under common law. The overall figure cannot be less than the award that the Claimant would be awarded for their non-whiplash injury if that were the only injury that had been suffered.
Rob Weir KC and Sam Way acted for the Interveners: the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Motor Accident Solicitors Society, instructed by Mark Harvey of Hugh James.
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