ACSO questions mixed injury appeal

The Association of Consumer Support Organisations has questioned the decision to allow the Association of British Insurers to appeal a landmark decision about compensation in mixed injury payouts.

The decision found that motor claimants should be compensated separately for whiplash and different injuries claimed through the Official Injury Claims portal.

However, ACSO fears this could lead to smaller payout.

Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of ACSO, said: “We hope the Court rules in favour of the injured party, to offset the dramatically lower levels of compensation they now receive for whiplash injuries and to avoid the conclusion that other injuries sustained are somehow less important or severe simply because there was a whiplash involved.

“Tens of thousands of cases remain in limbo at the present time, so we urge the Supreme Court to deal hear the appeal with urgency. If the Appeal is not heard quickly, hundreds of thousands of people suffering from mixed injuries may have to wait until as late as 2025 for clarity, which would be a full seven years after the Civil Liability Act was passed into law.

“Of course the beneficiaries of a reversal of the Court of Appeal decision by the Supreme Court will be insurers and their shareholders, while consumers with multiple injuries lose. We repeat our view that such an outcome would be unfair, unwarranted and unreasonable.”