Lord Justice Jackson’s review on extending fixed recoverable costs (FRC) has been met with mixed reactions from the legal and medical professions after he confirmed that he would not be recommending that all claims up to £250,000 should be subject to FRC.
The review, which builds upon the reforms Jackson recommended in his original Review of Civil Litigation Costs in January 2010 has not gone as far as originally expected by many. However, it does propose introducing FRC for all fast-track cases and a new fixed cost intermediate track for some claims worth up to £100,000. It also proposes a pilot capped costs process for business and property cases up to £250,000.
As expected, Jackson has also recommended establishing a working party to examine fixing costs for clinical negligence claims worth up to £25,000. He said that the Department of Health and the Civil Justice Council should set up a working party with both claimant and defendant representatives to develop a bespoke process for handling claims up to £25,000.
Emma Hallinan, director of claims and legal at the Medical Protection Society (MPS), said that the MPS had hoped to see a bold recommendation with medical negligence cases up to the value of £250,000 included in a FRC regime.
“Disproportionate legal fees are still a significant issue for claims up to this value and the financial benefits to the NHS would be even greater if the threshold was higher,” she said.
“While disappointing, a £25,000 threshold would be a positive first step – the proposed working party should be established swiftly so the threshold and process for clinical negligence cases can be considered and implemented. Government must also now be swift and decisive in setting out its own response.”
Ian Davies, a partner, at international law firm Kennedys said that Jackson’s approach was to be commended.
“The decision to establish an Intermediate Track is very sensible, as is the detail given in the 4 FRC bands proposed,” he said.
“As always there will be cl