A work in progress

The Rules Committee is to meet today (Friday 7 June). It is under government pressure on two fronts. Long signalled is an increase in the road traffic portal threshold from £10,000 to £25,000. This is not as big a deal as one might suspect. Not that many cases fall within this bracket. This I know for I have checked with two impeccable sources—a major road traffic insurer and the indefatigable John Spencer. Sir Rupert Jackson has also made the point to me that, the higher the value, the more likely it is that the defendant insurer would want to carefully scrutinise the claim and that is a luxury not permitted by the portal regime. An early admission is obligatory for otherwise the claim will exit and there is no coming back.

Of far greater significance, and at the crux of today’s agenda, is the implementation of new portals to catch injury claims, be they employers’ liability or otherwise. What is ground-breaking