Noise-induced hearing loss

A working group of the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has published a report making recommendations for fixed recoverable costs and improvements to claims management in noise-induced hearing loss cases. The report can be found at the bottom of this page.

The Master of the Rolls, as Chairman of the CJC, Sir Terence Etherton, said:

“The CJC’s working group is to be congratulated on having produced a comprehensive report that offers a fixed costs regime on which leading players for both the claimant and defendant sides have reached agreement.

“These claims present with special characteristics. Their complexity and the importance of having a timely resolution point to their needing a specific fixed costs regime that is complementary but not identical to a more general fixed costs system as proposed by Lord Justice Jackson in his recent review.

“The group’s recommendations go beyond fixed costs with a number of proposals to streamline the processes for such claims and encourage earlier settlement or resolution of cases. These cover both the pre- and post-litigation stages.

“The CJC warmly welcomed and endorsed the report at its last meeting, and we are very grateful to the expert practitioners who served as members, and Andrew Parker the CJC member who chaired and led the group.

“I have written to the Lord Chancellor to commend the report and ask for its recommendations to be considered as part of the forthcoming wider review of fixed costs.”