Is there a “compensation culture” in contemporary Russia? The role of liability insurance, non-pecuniary damages, and legal profession in personal injury litigation

This article explores current trends in personal injury litigation in Russia compared with the common law countries (the UK and US). In contrast to the British and American situation, there is no concern about the problem of “compensation culture” or “litigious behaviour” in Russian public discourse. The number of personal injury cases considered by Russian courts is not particularly high despite the growing number of accidents. This state of affairs can be explained by the influence of the Soviet culture of tort law. The most visible areas of the Soviet impact addressed in the article are liability insurance, non-pecuniary damages, and the legal profession. The article demonstrates the specificity of the Russian approach to these issues. The research is based on the analysis of judicial decisions on personal injury cases, court statistics, and expert interviews with personal injury lawyers. The findings are discussed from a historical and comparative perspective.

Personal injury litigation: the case for legal aid

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Apples to Oranges? Gendered Damages in Personal Injury Litigation: A Focus on Infant Claims

For infant plaintiffs, personal injury litigation damage awards for loss of earning capacity are highly speculative. To quantify damages, courts rely on general population statistics and often consider the gender of the plaintiff. This article examines ways in which courts have discounted damages to minor female plaintiffs. The author notes that this discounting broadly occurs in two ways, through the use of gendered statistics and through the application of female specific contingencies. While the courts have justified gender specific damages on the basis that tort law aims to be corrective, the author argues that these practices are no more appropriate than reducing damage awards based on factors such as race or ethnicity. The author concludes that tort law is capable of evolution and it is time that the practice of gender based damages be retired.

2. Trespass to the person and to land

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. Tort law is designed to address the consequences of loss. This is accomplished mainly through compensation and deterrence. A third aim of tort law is corrective justice. This chapter discusses the compensation aim of tort law, focusing on personal injury caused by accidents. It examines whether this aim has been successfully accomplished and considers the relative merits of other forms of compensation. After providing a historical overview of the tort system of compensation, the chapter looks at the function of tort as a form of compensation for loss and places tort in the context of other forms of compensation. It also analyses insurance, no-fault liability, and alternative compensation schemes before ending with a discussion of current debates concerning possible high levels of personal injury litigation.

Tort tactics: an empirical study of personal injury litigation strategies

This paper reveals some of the tactics that lawyers may use when conducting personal injury litigation. The research is empirically based by being drawn from structured interviews with a cross-section of practitioners. This qualitative evidence helps to place the rules of tort in a wider context and suggests that tactical considerations may affect the outcome of individual cases irrespective of their legal merits. A range of strategies are considered here to illustrate how they may be used at different points during the litigation. In addition, the paper updates our understanding of the compensation system by considering the practitioners' responses in the light of the major changes made to this area of practice in recent years. It reveals how negotiation tactics have developed since research in this area was last carried out. Overall, the paper adds to a very limited literature dealing with negotiation and settlement of personal injury claims in the UK.

Civil Litigation in the UK: сontemporary issues to ensure evidential reliability

The system for assessing appropriate damages for individuals who have suffered a personal injury, caused by another person or persons is well established in the UK. A claimant, for example, who has been in a road accident, work accident, medical accident or negligent action can make a claim for his/her physical and psychological injuries, time off work and future disability, provided it is proven that another person(s) is responsible. The system involves obtaining, medical-legal evidence on the diagnosis, causation, treatment and prognosis of any injuries, physical or psychological. One key aspect of this covers the crucial issue of evidential reliability. This paper explains the key questions facing lawyers and experts alike in the UK; fundamental postulates or beliefs about evidence; ways to improve reliability; the relevance of pre-event history and improving evidential reliability via Part 35 questioning. The UK, along with the USA, has the most advanced and developed system of personal injury litigation process.