CASE NEWS
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome – A Judicial Review
Kevan Groves (Principal) recently represented motor insurers, via
Counsel Shaun Ferris, in connection with a claim arising from a road traffic accident in which the claimant claimed damages in excess of £1.6m as a result of CRPS allegedly caused by the accident.
The Claimant's total final award was £12,850 comprising of general damages £12,500 and past losses of £350.
The claim was listed before HHJ Hughes QC at Winchester County Court who held that;
• CRPS is a controversial diagnosis that is medically untestable. There are no diagnostic tests and doctors have to rely on subjective observation;
• Limb disuse can present a picture similar to that of CRPS;
• It would be a “fundamental error” to proceed on the basis that a correlation in time represents causation;
• The fact that a claimant complains of certain symptoms after the index accident does not prove that the same were caused by the index accident;
• It is necessary to analyse the pre accident history which, in the present case, established that all symptoms had manifested themselves at some time prior to the index accident (with one exception which was not proved to be a true symptom at all);
• The Claimant had a long and complex medical history prior to the index accident and that she was suffering from a number of discrete and significant physical and psychological disabilities pre accident;
• The Claimant’s pre accident condition was at odds with her own description of her pre accident levels of function and that presented by her expert pain management expert, which accounts were rejected;
• The learned judge expressed criticism of the approach taken by the Claimant’s pain management expert and rejected his evidence.
For the full judgment click here
