Developments in the law on double recovery

Judgment in WNA v NDP [2023] EWCH 2970 (KB) was handed down on 22 November 2023. This elegant and pithy judgment by His Honour Judge Robinson, sitting as a judge of the High Court, dealt with the vexed question of double recovery in personal injury claims. He considered the most appropriate mechanism to allow the Claimant to top up her care needs with state funding, while avoiding any element of overcompensation, and ensuring that the taxpayer did not subsidise the RTA insurer.  

The parties had agreed an undertaking by the Claimant to use her PPO for care and case management, and only then to rely on statutory funding to meet any shortfall, repaying any surplus to the public body. The dispute was whether she needed to account for any unpaid element of the PPO in subsequent years.

The judge determined, rejecting the Defendant’s submission, that the correct method of accounting for the undertaking should be on an annual basis. The annual receipt of the PPO was to be treated as payment in respect of damages for care (and case management) only for the year in respect of which it is paid, rather than as a payment made generally in respect of any future care, for which the Claimant would have to account.  

The judgment may be of use to practitioners grappling with issues of double recovery in severe injury cases. It is available here.

Adam Weitzman KC and Patricia Leonard appeared for the Claimant.  

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