It is easy to think that during the current Coronavirus lockdown that your current claim will also be in lockdown. However, at Thompsons we are doing everything possible to make sure that the wheels of justice continue to spin and to ensure that we get the right results for you.
Not every client’s claim has been raised in Court, so please be rest assured that all of us at Thompsons are fully set up to work from home and are ensuring that we continue to progress all cases, regardless of whether they are in Court or not. We are still able to take statements and carry out all investigations needed to progress your claim. There is no denying that there may be some delays in getting expert reports at the moment, especially from our medical experts who are committed to working on the NHS alongside private medical expert work. However, we will get these reports as soon as this can be accommodated and we will continue to work to progress your case.
When we get to the stage where we are required to raise a court action, the Courts have set rules for this in the current climate. If your action is of sufficient value to be raised in the Court of Session (the highest civil court in Scotland) the Court will accept new actions by email but only where those actions require to be raised by 20 April 2020 to protect against timebar. The All-Scotland Personal Injury Court will also accept new actions by email but only where they need to be raised urgently, again, to protect against timebar. For new actions in the other Sheriff Courts, the court will only deal with it if it considered urgent.
If you are not familiar with the process of making a claim, you will not be aware of the meaning of timebar. In personal injury cases, this legal term means that every personal injury claim in Scotland must be settled or raised in court within a period of 3 years from the date of the accident or diagnosis. For cases where a timebar is approaching, we are working hard to ensure that these are raised in court to protect against timebar. In addition to this, we have reached an agreement with some insurance companies which allows the timebar date to be extended to ensure that the rights our client’s to make a claim is protected in these unprecedented times.
If you already have a case in the Court, you may be asking yourself if you will still get your day in Court? The answer is yes … eventually. As can be appreciated the Courts are not hearing business which is non-urgent business in nature and unfortunately personal injury claims fall under this category. All civil trials (known as Proofs) which are scheduled to take place in the All Scotland Personal Injury Court before 19 June 2020 have been adjourned and will be rescheduled. Many other Sheriff Courts are taking a similar approach. Unfortunately, we do not yet have an indication of when these will be re-arranged. If your court dates falls within that date, we will be in touch to let you this happened and we will provide you with the new date as soon as we know it.
While you may not get your day in Court straightway, there are still a number of deadlines set by the Court that we, as your solicitors, still need to meet. Please be rest assured that thanks to our ability to work from home, such deadlines are being met and we are doing everything we need to do to meet them.
The current lockdown is providing many challenges to many businesses and services a like. Although this is challenging, we are still available by phone on 0800 0891 331 and email at
Blog by Nathan McHardy
