The cases of Rabot v Hassam and Briggs v Laditan, initially decided by DJ Hennessey at Birkenhead County Court were leap-frogged to the Court of Appeal to expedite judicial guidance on how to value mixed injuries or claims where the claimant has suffered a mix of both whiplash and non-whiplash injuries that fall within the new RTA Small Claims Track Protocol.

DJ Hennessey’s approach on Rabot and Briggs was to value both whiplash and non-whiplash injuries separately based on the tariff table and the Judicial College guidelines, and then reduce the total to note any overlap in pain, suffering and loss of amenity.

The Court of Appeal judgement on these claims is still awaited following a 2-day hearing at the end of November last year.

In the meantime, DLG Legal Services have had a small number of quantum decisions in the Dispute Resolution Teams.

In our first result in mid November, the judge valued the non-tariff injuries using the JC guidelines and case law and simply added the tariff value on top which was a fantastic result for our client.

In a more recent decision, the defendant raised whether the hearing should be adjourned to await the court of appeal judgment, the DDJ refused and proceeded to assess the mixed injury claim following the Birkenhead rulings and making deductions for overlap of PSLA.

Although we have only had a small number of quantum matters proceed to a hearing, the results have been positive for our clients.