In its March ruling on eight test cases, the Court of Appeal considered the Law Commission's proposals on levels of damages for pain and suffering, and recommended a tapered increase in awards over £10,000, up to around a third for the most serious cases. Mary Francis, Director General, Association of British Insurers, said that, although the judgment will have some impact on premiums, this will be significantly less than if the Commission's proposals had been implemented in full.
The 1999 Law Commission report. Damages for Personal Injury Non-Pecuniary Loss, concluded that levels of damages for pain and suffering in serious personal injury cases were too low. It recommended that awards of £3,000 or more should be increased by between 50% and 100%, and awards between £2,000 and £3,000 should be increased by up to 50%.
It broadly based these conclusions on the results of a survey of members of the public. However, it rejected the idea of introducing such changes through Parliament, favouring allowing the Court of Appeal to decide on a "basket" of cases representing a range of typical personal injury claims. This "basket" in the March judgment consisted of three cases involving the National Health Service and others against insurance companies, Lloyd's syndicates and the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB).
