Damages and Compensation Culture: Comparative Perspectives

357 Pages·2016·2.671 MB·English

by  Eoin Quill and Raymond J Friel

DAMAGES AND COMPENSATION CULTURE
The focus of the essays in this book is on the relationship between compensation culture,
social values and tort damages for personal injuries. A central concern of the public and
political perception of personal injuries claims is the high cost of tort claims to society,
reflected in insurance premiums, often accompanied by an assumption that tort law and
practice is flawed and improperly raising such costs. The aims of this collection are to first
clarify the relationship between tort damages for personal injuries and the social values
that the law seeks to reflect and to balance, then to critically assess tort reforms, including
both proposals for reform and actual implemented reforms, in light of how they advance
or hinder those values. Reforms of substantive and procedural law in respect of personal
injury damages are analysed, with perspectives from England and Wales, Canada, Australia,
Ireland and continental Europe. The essays offer valuable insights to anyone interested in
the reform of tort law or the tort process in respect of personal injuries.
ii
Damages and Compensation
Culture
Comparative Perspectives
Edited by
Eoin Quill and Raymond J Friel
OXFORD AND PORTLAND, OREGON
2016
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First published 2016
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-84946-797-1
ePDF: 978-1-50990-204-0
ePub: 978-1-50990-205-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: “Compensation Culture—Comparative Tort Law Reform in the 21st Century” (Conference)
(2014 : University of Limerick) | Quill, Eoin, editor. | Friel, Raymond, editor.
Title: Damages and compensation culture : comparative perspectives / edited by Eoin Quill and Raymond J. Friel.
Description: Oxford ; Portland, Oregon : Hart Publishing, 2016. | “This book presents a collection of papers from a
conference entitled ‘Compensation Culture—Comparative Tort Law Reform in the 21st Century’ held at the University of
Limerick on 23–24 May 2014”—Introduction. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028882 (print) | LCCN 2016029537 (ebook) | ISBN 9781849467971
(hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781509902057 (Epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Personal injuries—Congresses. | Damages—Congresses. | Compensation (Law)—
Congresses. | Torts—Social aspects—Congresses.
Classification: LCC K925 .C664 2014 (print) | LCC K925 (ebook) | DDC 346.03—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028882
Typeset by Compuscript Ltd, Shannon
PREFACE
It is now two years since the University of Limerick hosted the conference that gave rise
to this collection of thought-provoking essays on damages and compensation culture. We
would like to firstly thank all of those who made the conference itself a success—the Inter-
national Commercial and Economic Law Group at the School of Law in the University of
Limerick and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Lim-
erick, both of whom provided funding for the event; Michelle Hyland, who provided the
administrative support that led to the smooth running of the conference and, of course, the
participants who provided such a lively debate.
We are also greatly indebted to those who helped us to transform the conference into a
book—the authors, whose painstaking efforts put further flesh on the bones of the papers
delivered at the conference and the staff at Hart for their support in getting the concept
off the ground and in transforming the raw manuscript into the finished production; in
particular we would like to thank Bill Asquith, the Commissioning Editor, for all his assis-
tance in getting the book proposal approved; Mel Hamill, the Managing Editor and her
team for copy editing and Emma Platt, the Marketing Manager, for promoting the book.
Special thanks are also due to Séamus Haughey, research librarian in the Oireachtas (Irish
Parliament) library for providing material sought for John Kleefeld’s chapter.
Eoin Quill
Raymond J Friel
23 May 2016
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ........................................................................................................................................v
List of Contributors ................................................................................................................xiii
Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1
Eoin Quill and Raymond J Friel
Background ...........................................................................................................................1
Compensation Culture and Tort Reform ............................................................................2
A Synopsis of the Book .........................................................................................................4
Theme................................................................................................................................4
Part I ..................................................................................................................................4
General Features of the Relationship between Damages and
Compensation Culture .............................................................................................4
Part II .................................................................................................................................7
Damages Reform in Various Jurisdictions ..................................................................7
Part III ...............................................................................................................................9
The Process for Delivery of Damages ..........................................................................9
Part IV .............................................................................................................................11
Compensation and Personal Responsibility..............................................................11
Part I: General Features of the Relationship between
Damages and Compensation Culture
1. ‘The Whiplash Capital of the World’: Genealogy of a Compensation Myth ................15
Ken Oliphant
Context: The Road to Whiplash Reform ........................................................................15
Whiplash Becomes an Issue ........................................................................................15
Shaping the Political Debate .......................................................................................17
Proposals for Targeted Whiplash Reform ...................................................................18
The Government’s Programme of Whiplash Reforms ..............................................21
Additional Measures ....................................................................................................23
The ‘Whiplash Capital’ Claim .........................................................................................25
The CEA Study �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������27
Selective Use of the CEA Data .....................................................................................29
Flaws in the CEA Research Design and Methodology ...............................................29
The ABI’s Further Research .........................................................................................30
The ‘World Capital’ Claim ...........................................................................................32
Wider Reflections on the ‘Whiplash Capital’ Rhetoric ..................................................33
viii Table of Contents
2. Structural Factors Affecting the Number and Cost of Personal
Injury Claims in the Tort System ....................................................................................37
Richard Lewis
Compensation Culture Disease: The Dangers of New Diagnosis .................................38
The Number of Claims ....................................................................................................39
Trends in the Rate of Claiming ...................................................................................39
Institutional and Personal Factors Encouraging Claims ...........................................42
Liability Insurers ......................................................................................................43
Claims Management Companies ............................................................................46
Claimant Personal Injury Law Firms ......................................................................47
Personal Factors Encouraging Claims ........................................................................50
The Rising Cost of Claims ...............................................................................................51
The Changing Form of Payment: Periodical Payment Orders ..................................51
Recovery of State Benefits from Damages ..................................................................53
Non-Pecuniary Loss and Increasing the Price of Pain ...............................................54
Pecuniary Loss, Discount Rates and the Real Financial World .................................56
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................59
3. A Reflexive Approach to Accident Law Reform ..............................................................60
Erik S Knutsen
Accident Law Reform Aims: Process Goals versus Justice Goals ...................................60
Justice Goals Through a Reflexive Approach to Accident Law Reform.........................61
Damages Limiters ............................................................................................................62
What is a Damages Limiter? ........................................................................................62
A Reflexive Account of Damages Limiters ..................................................................63
Evaluating Damages Limiters ......................................................................................66
Public Dispute Resolution Mediaries ..............................................................................67
What are Public Dispute Resolution Mediaries? ........................................................67
Models of Public Dispute Resolution Mediaries ........................................................67
A Reflexive Account of Public Dispute Resolution Mediaries ...................................69
Evaluating Public Dispute Resolution Mediaries .......................................................71
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................71
Part II: Damages Reform in Various Jurisdictions
4. Reforming English Tort Law: Lessons from Australia ....................................................75
James Goudkamp
Introduction .....................................................................................................................75
The Need Principle ..........................................................................................................78
Positive Changes ..............................................................................................................79
Caps ..............................................................................................................................79
Thresholds and Sliding Scales .....................................................................................81
Exemplary and Aggravated Damages .........................................................................82
Judicial Discretion and Contributory Negligence ......................................................83
Negative Changes .............................................................................................................86
Discount Rates .............................................................................................................86
Provisions that Restate or Appear to Restate the Common Law ...............................88
Table of Contents ix
Illegality Defences ........................................................................................................88
Good Samaritans .........................................................................................................90
Volunteers ....................................................................................................................91
Overlapping Schemes ..................................................................................................91
One Hundred Per Cent Contributory Negligence .....................................................92
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................93
5. Non-Pecuniary Damages for Personal Injury: A Reflection
on the Canadian Experience............................................................................................95
Jeff Berryman
Introduction .....................................................................................................................95
The Supreme Court Trilogy ............................................................................................96
Court Awarded Tort Law Personal Injuries Compensation ...........................................98
Automobile Insurance ...................................................................................................102
Workers’ Compensation Schemes .................................................................................103
Court Awarded Tort Law, Beyond Personal Injuries, for
Non-Pecuniary Losses ...............................................................................................104
Commentary ..................................................................................................................106
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................112
6. Identifying and Calculating Personal Injury Damages in Ireland, Italy,
France and Belgium: Recent Debates between Scholars,
Judges and Practitioners ................................................................................................113
Denise Amram
Introduction ...................................................................................................................113
Heads of Damages .........................................................................................................114
France .........................................................................................................................114
Belgium ......................................................................................................................116
Italy .............................................................................................................................117
Damages Assessment .....................................................................................................118
Range of Values in the Guidelines .............................................................................119
Non-Pecuniary Losses Compensation Poste Par Poste and as a
Unique Head of Damage .......................................................................................120
All Roads Lead to … Pisa?! ........................................................................................121
Part III: The Process for Delivery of Damages
7. Deconstructing Policy on Costs and the Compensation Culture ...............................125
Annette Morris
Introduction ...................................................................................................................125
The ‘Big Bang’: Reform of the Personal Injury Claims Process ...................................126
Disproportionate Costs: A Problem or a Problematisation? .......................................132
The Problematisation of Legal Costs ............................................................................134
The Power of the Insurance Lobby ...........................................................................135
The Senior Judiciary’s Commitment to Proportionate Justice ...............................140
Deregulation Politics .................................................................................................144
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................147