Catastrophic claims—accommodation and financial settlements

Produced in partnership with Andrew Wilson

Practice notes

Catastrophic claims—accommodation and financial settlements

Produced in partnership with Andrew Wilson

Practice notes

STOP PRESS: The Lord Chancellor has announced that the discount rate will increase from minus 0.25% to positive 0.5% on 11 January 2025. This Practice Note will be updated with the new rate of positive 0.5% on 11 January 2025.

Accommodation

See also Practice Note: Cost of accommodation.

It is very common for a severely injured claimant to require specially adapted accommodation, unless they are in long-term residential care. Being in accommodation which meets their needs will be one of the crucial factors in a claimant’s rehabilitation. The practitioner must therefore give early attention to accommodation, with consideration of:

•
suitability or otherwise of current accommodation for both present and future needs
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whether it will be possible to meet the claimant’s needs by modifying, adapting and equipping their existing accommodation
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if new accommodation is required, what are the specifications for it?

The considerations vary enormously, according to type and severity of injury but typical issues are:

•
all areas of property are wheelchair-friendly
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lifts and hoists can be fitted on the staircase
•
space

Andrew Wilson

Consultant Solicitor

Andrew has more than 25 years’ experience of working in the fields of personal injury and occupational disease litigation, acting for both claimants and defendants. He trained at L Bingham & Co, gaining early experience in a number of important high profile claims involving the MIB. During the 1990s Andrew worked at Hextalls and then Kennedys, predominantly for defendants across a range of motor, employers’ liability and public liability matters many of which involved serious injuries or death. More recently, he has dealt with cases for claimants who have suffered serious injuries or occupational disease. He was a partner in a large specialist practice. He has provided seminars to solicitors and other legal professionals both for an external conference company and in house on the workings of the Civil Procedure Rules in the context of personal injury claims, amongst other subjects.

He has now set up his own legal consultancy, providing advice and support to solicitors, particularly a specialist London practice, in connection with fatal accidents and very serious injury cases such as brain injury, mostly in the High Court. He has continued to develop his education and training activities, providing seminars and contributing articles and commentaries to legal information services.

Since his training, Andrew has retained a particular interest in issues of motor indemnity and the operation of the Road Traffic Act and Article 75.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Discount rate definition

What does Discount rate mean?

The rate of interest used to find the present value of a future cash flow.

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