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I would argue that the Bird appeal is more importantly generally to all parties and the Judges. It always has been a startling grey area in the new rules (amongst many, of course) that disposal hearings were not considered.

As a Claimant practitioner I freely acknowledge that obtaining full fixed trial costs as soon as a case is listed for a disposal hearing is a windfall. Equally, the notion that only the first limb of the fixed costs should be applicable is also a nonsense.

A lot of work can and often does go into disposal hearing cases. Many courts will list cases up to the upper limit of the fast track for disposal hearings in fact. The issue I have, is that the rules are so negligently drafted that only 3 scenarios are possible short of a complete re-draft of that relevant provisions:

1) the windfalls for Claimants continue;
2) the windfalls for Defendants continue; or
3) the Judges make up a new rule entirely (which is not going to be remotely palatable at any time, let alone when it involves wading into the decades long battle between insurers and injury claimants).

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