Beardmore v Lancashire County Council (unreported, 2019)

Agency Fees for medical records are still recoverable – Beardmore v Lancashire County Council (unreported, 2019).

The matter refers to an ELP/PL tripping claim which settled for £3,500.00. Medical records were obtained by a medical agency that claimed an uplifted profit element in addition to the direct costs of the medical records from the provider. The medical agency charged £96.00 including VAT in relation to each set of records.

The medical agency, Target Medical, and the Claimants’ solicitors, Scott Rees and Co relationship was found to not be clearly stated but it was ‘believed that there were mutual directorships and the latter had a financial interest’.

The Defendant argued that only the direct costs should be recoverable.

At the first instances, District Judge Wright found it ‘unreasonable to instruct the agency to write to whomever had possession of the medical records’ It was ‘appreciated that the RTA cases allowed for agency fees but that they were not allowed in PL cases’ The agency fee was therefore not allowed.

On appeal, HHJ Wood disagreed. Although the absence of a provision in the rules for PL cases gave him ‘a little cause for concern’, he concluded that ‘CPR 45.29I(2) allowed for recovery of a medical agency fee in this public liability case as a disbursement’ and was ‘not excluded because of the specific reference in RTA claims’.

He went on to say that ‘In a public liability case, in my judgment, the appropriate measure for the disbursement recovery is the reasonable and proportionate cost of obtaining the medical records.’ As such, agency fees are recoverable.

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