Personal injury lawyers have attacked the insurance industry, accusing it of encouraging fears of a compensation culture in an attempt to undermine victims’ claims, said a report.
The new president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) Colin Ettinger warned of an unprecedented onslaught by insurers to create a misleading impression about the volume of claims being made for personal injuries.
In a speech to the APIL conference Ettinger said insurers were trying to exploit the adverse publicity created by talk of a compensation culture. Insurers were blaming compensation for rises in insurance premiums, he added.
Ettinger said he found it offensive that people who had sustained injuries through someone else’s fault and then made a claim were condemned as part of the UK’s growing compensation culture.
But according to the report, Martin Bruffell, past president of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers, said a claims culture did exist, but that it was the way it was being taken advantage of that was the problem.
