At a time when the personal injury claims process in England and Wales lurches from one controversy to another, it is timely to ask what lessons can be learnt from how personal injury claims are resolved elsewhere. This event presents the results of a detailed comparative investigation of the claims process in three legal systems, based on extensive interviews with practitioners in each. The three legal systems looked at are England and Wales, Norway and The Netherlands – three legal systems with contrasting traditions, liability laws and approaches to compensation for personal injury in general. The study shows that, though some aspects of the claims process are constant across national boundaries, there are pronounced differences in attitude which reflect – in varying degrees – differences in liability rules, procedural mechanisms, legal institutions and wider culture.

 

The research was conducted on behalf of the Institute for European Tort Law, Vienna, which teams up with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law for this event. The project was led by Ken Oliphant, former Director of the Vienna Institute, now Professor of Tort Law at the University of Bristol, in collaboration with teams of researchers at Cardiff University, the University of Bergen, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the course of the research, over 80 lawyers, judges and claims handlers gave in-depth interviews about their roles in the process and the specific challenges they face, and these interviews provide the basis for the presentations to be given at the event.

 

Programme:

 

4 pm    First Session

 

            Welcome, by Duncan Fairgrieve, BIICL (5 mins)

            Introduction to the research, by Ken Oliphant, University of Bristol (5 mins)

PI Claims in Norway, by Morten Nadim and Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde, University of Bergen (20 – 25 mins)

PI Claims in The Netherlands, by Siewert Lindenbergh, Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam (20 – 25 mins)

Discussion

 

5.15     Coffee Break

 

5.30     Second Session

 

            PI Claims in England and Wales, by Annette Morris, Cardiff Law School (20 – 25 mins)

            Comparing Legal Cultures: Lessons for England and Wales, by Ken Oliphant, University of Bristol (20 – 25 mins)

Discussion

7 pm