Mr. John Cahalan:

There are two parts; we are essentially making economic decisions on the likelihood of the insurance company being successful in the trial and the weight of the evidence we have. There are many cases that we would like to fight in court right to a judgment but it would be foolhardy because of our system.

We see this in situations where there is relatively no damage to a vehicle but four people who are all suffering from soft-tissue injury are saying they are in pain. It is very difficult for us to defend that because if the accident had happened and if liability is not in question it is down to the question of how much pain they are feeling. What we need to do in that instance, to have any chance of winning, is to be able to attack the credibility of the claimant which is extremely difficult. In those cases, it is foolhardy to bring the case. The costs will increase quite significantly for us. The payout will be the payout. We fight many cases and in those cases two things generally happen. One is the defendant will actually withdraw it on the steps of the court. Interestingly, the negotiations on the steps of the court, when the case is being withdrawn, are all about the solicitors' fees.