Commenting on the insurance industry seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court concerning how to compensate so-called 'mixed injuries' following a road traffic accident, Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO), said:
“It is unfortunate that the insurance industry has chosen to go down this route.
"The Court of Appeal decision enables thousands of disputed claims currently held up in the system to be settled and for injured people to be able to get on with their lives. Instead, they could remain in a legal limbo. The insurers’ decision is doubly perverse because they could also have got on with settling the claims backlog, some of which would have to be litigated, so we would have seen some much needed easing of pressure on the Civil Courts. In this respect, insurers seem to be cutting off their nose to spite their face.
"The Supreme Court may choose to decline the application, and while that is our hope, should it choose to hear the case we would like to see the Court rule in favour of the injured party, especially given the dramatically lower levels of compensation they now receive for whiplash injuries.
"In this case, the relevant question to ask is surely ‘cui bono?’, who benefits. If the Court of Appeal decision is reversed, it will be insurers and their shareholders who will win while consumers with multiple injuries lose. That seems unfair, unwarranted and unreasonable."