Labour MPs have been warned that the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is involved in a misinformation campaign in advance of the government's response to the personal injury claims process consultation, expected to be published shortly.
Thompsons Solicitors, the most experienced personal injury law firm in the UK, has written to all Labour members raising questions such as why the ABI never concedes that anything their members do slows up or adds to the costs they complain of. Thompsons goes on to suggest that the insurance industry is responsible for many of the problems in the current system.
The firm points out that the ABI continues to rely on research they know has been discredited to pedal the myth that injured people get more compensation if they don't have legal representation. The ABI research has been comprehensively debunked by an independent expert.
Tom Jones, Thompsons' director of policy and public affairs said:
'We understand the ABI's drive to cut costs, we would expect nothing less, but in the interests of justice and on behalf of those who have to take on the Goliath of the insurance industry, a slick marketing campaign based on half truths should not be allowed to skew an already unbalanced fight.
'Our experience is that delay and costs build up are substantially down to insurers and employers. The ABI continue to claim for example that disproportionate costs are down to claimants and yet they repeatedly fail to win court challenges to costs claimed at the end of cases. The ABI, while presenting itself as a friend of the claimant, are painting a wholly one sided picture.'
