As most RTA personal injury lawyers will know, there are few reported cases on stage three procedure and fewer still on appellate judgments. Therefore, when Anesh Pema had an appeal case heard by HHJ Stewart QC - a judge who was instrumental in drafting the portal scheme and the rules - he knew that there would be considerable interest in the outcome.

The appeal related to the case of Dominic v Martin and raised several points of importance relating to stage three hearings. The appeal was multi-fold, however the key issues of general application were the approach of the court to pre-existing injuries when assessing general damages and whether the Claimant was entitled to have his damages assessed on more than the lowest point in a range of recovery period, in this case 9-12 months. In his article, which appeared in volume 21 Issue 10 of the APIL PI Focus, Anesh comments on the impact of there being no provision in the portal scheme for statements to be filed during stage 2 & 3.

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