Civil Liability Bill: Whiplash Injury Definition And Tariffs Published

New draft regulations set out detail lacking from the Civil Liability Bill

Following criticism of the lack of detail contained within the initial draft of the Civil Liability Bill regarding the definition of a 'whiplash injury' and also the proposed tariffs for such injuries, the Government has published The Whiplash Injury Regulations ("the Regulations").

The Regulations must be welcomed as clarifying one of the main areas of contention within the Civil Liability Bill. However, as expected, there are critics of the Regulations, with the battle lines very much drawn along the same lines as those seen throughout the progression of the Bill.

The Bill will now progress to the Committee stage in the House of Lords, which will involve a line by line examination of the Bill, commencing on 10 May.

Whiplash definition

Section 1(1) of the Bill stated that 'whiplash injury' means "an injury, or set of injuries, of soft tissue in the neck, back or shoulder that is of a description specified in regulations made by the Lord Chancellor".

The Regulations expand upon this, setting out at Regulation 2 that:

"whiplash injury" means a sprain, strain, tear or rupture of one or more of the muscles, tendons or ligaments in the neck or back which has been caused by the backward or forward or sideways movement of the neck beyond the limit of its normal range of motion, the effects of which may include, but are not limited to—

(a) pain in the neck, back, shoulders or arms;

(b) reduced mobility in the neck, back or shoulders;

(c) headaches;

(d) muscle spasms; or

(e) swelling in the neck."

There may be satellite litigation on the definition as third parties seek to circumnavigate the proposals by avoiding a reference to a whiplash injury as defined above. A lower back injury for example, said not to have been caused by 'movement of the neck', might produce pain and reduced mobility, but will not fall within the above definition.

Lord Keen also recently confirmed that cyclists, motorcyclists and other road users will be excluded them from the whiplash measures in the Bill is not a surprise, as the wording of the Bill makes it clear, that it will not include motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.

However, he also made clear that the intended increase to the small claims limit to £5,000 for road traffic accident injury claims will apply to all road users, including motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.

Whiplash tariffs

The Regulations mirror the proposed tariffs...