Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which damages claimed for are taken into consideration when determining whether a claim for damages for personal injuries should follow the small claims track; and whether special damages and future losses are taken into account in such determinations.

There were no new definitions of damages for personal injuries introduced by the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) 1998. A “claim for personal injuries” is defined in CPR 2.3 as “proceedings in which there is a claim for damages in respect of personal injuries to the claimant or any other person or in respect of a person’s death, and ‘personal injuries’ includes any disease and any impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition.”

In general, cases allocated to the Small Claims track are those with a financial value of no more than £10,000. For personal injury, there is a lower small claims limit of £1,000 that applies to damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity. Additional damages may be recovered, such as for loss of earnings, damage to property and medical expenses, although to remain on the Small Claims track the total value of the whole claim must not exceed the relevant financial limit.