SIA challenge justice bill
The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) has mounted a High Court
challenge to controversial Government plans to reform No Win No Fee
agreements, saying Ministers have failed to consider properly the
devastating impact its proposals could have on disabled people.
The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA), which represents the UK's
40,000 spinal cord injured people, says Justice Secretary Ken
Clarke's plans in his Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of
Offenders Bill would be like 'going back in time' and have not been
properly thought through.
Ministers' reforms of the No Win No Fee system - or Conditional
Fee Arrangements - include plans to force victims to pay some of
their legal fees even if they win, rather than the defendant having
to pay, following recommendations from senior judge Lord Justice
Jackson.
But the SIA, which is being supported in its action by other
victims groups including brain injury charity Headway and Action
Against Medical Accidents (AvMA), has now lodged an application for
Judicial Review of the Government's planned reforms of Civil
Justice which could see the plans having to be re-drawn if it is
successful.
Lawyers for the SIA say the reforms, which charities fear will
hit the most seriously injured victims of injury and accidents the
hardest, are unlawful because the Government failed to carry out
proper assessments of how its proposals would affect disabled
people
The charity will also argue in court that the Government has
failed to undertake a proper consultation, saying:
- that the time between the consultation closing and Mr Clarke
issuing a response in the House of Commons was insufficient
- that the Government ignored the high level of opposition to is
plans, with as many as 75% of respondents objecting to some
measures, including senior judges
- that Ministers did not take sufficient note of arguments that
its plans would hinder access to justice.
"Access to justice should be a fundamental right to protect the
vulnerable and Government must consider it as one of their highest
priorities." said Dan Burden, Head of Public Affairs at the Spinal
Injuries Association.
"For a great many people whose lives have been devastated
through a catastrophic event such as a spinal cord injury, the 'No
Win No Fee' system has opened up the opportunity, irrespective of
means, to submit a legitimate claim."
"A newly injured person who is facing up to a life of permanent
disability and paralysis should be entitled to obtain good quality
legal advice which is independent, without financial pressures
impacting their decision to progress a claim."
http://www.spinal.co.uk/news/sia-challenge-justice-bill