Personal Injury: cool response from claimant lawyers

Insurance firm Weightmans has become the first defendant personal injury law firm to appoint its own independent rehabilitation panel, it claimed this week - but claimant lawyers warned there would be 'no rush' to use a panel selected by a defendant firm.


The firm has appointed four rehabilitation providers - AIG, Crawford & Company, Capita and HCML - to the panel. Weightmans partner Elaine Chapman said the firm had conducted a rigorous selection process that included reviewing the providers' accounts to ensure they were independent. However, she admitted that the panel has met with some resistance from claimant solicitors.


She said: 'We tried and tested many different organisations and those we have selected are experts, and are not owned by any particular body. The providers are completely independent and no referral fee is paid. All the providers have vast portfolios of work, and are not getting most of their work from us.'


Colin Ettinger, former president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said: 'Claimant solicitors want independent providers, and any provider linked to a defendant, whether an insurer or solicitor, is going to be regarded as partisan. I can't imagine that too many claimant lawyers will be rushing to use the service offered by Weightmans.'


Richard Crabtree, personal injury partner at Pannone & Partners in Manchester, added: 'There is a problem of perception, if not of reality. As a claimant lawyer, if I am going to advocate a provider to my client, the primary issue is that it should be an independent organisation; if there is a suggestion of an insurance bias, I wouldn't recommend it to my client. Claimant solicitors would rather be able to chose their providers.'