The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2004

Amendment to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998

4.  After rule 36.2, insert—

“Personal injury claims for future pecuniary loss

36.2A.— (1) This rule applies to a claim for damages for personal injury which is or includes a claim for future pecuniary loss.

(2) An offer to settle such a claim will not have the consequences set out in this Part unless it is made by way of a Part 36 offer under this rule, and where such an offer is or includes an offer to pay the whole or part of any damages in the form of a lump sum, it will not have the consequences set out in this Part unless a Part 36 payment of the amount of the lump sum offer is also made.

(3) Where both a Part 36 offer and a Part 36 payment are made under this rule—

(a) the offer must include details of the payment, and

(b) rules 36.11(1) and (2) and 36.13(1) and (2) apply as if there were only a Part 36 offer.

(4) A Part 36 offer to which this rule applies may contain an offer to pay, or an offer to accept—

(a) the whole or part of the damages for future pecuniary loss in the form of—

(i) either a lump sum or periodical payments, or

(ii) both a lump sum and periodical payments,

(b) the whole or part of any other damages in the form of a lump sum.

(5) A Part 36 offer to which this rule applies—

(a) must state the amount of any offer to pay the whole or part of any damages in the form of a lump sum;

(b) may state what part of the offer relates to damages for future pecuniary loss to be accepted in the form of a lump sum;

(c) may state, where part of the offer relates to other damages to be accepted in the form of a lump sum, what amounts are attributable to those other damages;

(d) must state what part of the offer relates to damages for future pecuniary loss to be paid or accepted in the form of periodical payments and must specify—

(i) the amount and duration of the periodical payments,

(ii) the amount of any payments for substantial capital purchases and when they are to be made, and

(iii) that each amount is to vary by reference to the retail prices index (or to some other named index, or that it is not to vary by reference to any index); and

(e) must state either that any damages which take the form of periodical payments will be funded in a way which ensures that the continuity of payment is reasonably secure in accordance with section 2(4) of the Damages Act 1996 or how such damages are to be paid and how the continuity of their payment is to be secured.

(6) Where a Part 36 payment includes a lump sum for damages for future pecuniary loss, the Part 36 payment notice may state the amount of that lump sum.

(7) Where the defendant makes a Part 36 offer to which this rule applies and which offers to pay damages in the form of both a lump sum and periodical payments, the claimant may only give notice of acceptance of the offer as a whole.”