Sheriff Julius Mark Komorowski has been appointed as a specialist to hear cases in the National Personal Injury Court.

Sheriff Julius Mark Komorowski has been designated by Sheriff Principal Nigel Ross, Sheriff Principal of Lothian and Borders, as a specialist in actions of damages for personal injury.

The creation of the all-Scotland jurisdiction PI court, located at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, was among a raft of significant reforms to the Scottish legal system which came into effect in 2015.

Notes to editors

The National Personal Injury Court has jurisdiction in PI cases exceeding £5,000 and workplace-related PI actions exceeding £1,000, and any workplace-related PI case under £1,000 remitted to the Personal Injury court.

PI actions can still be lodged in local courts, but court rules have been made to allow civil jury trials in the National Personal Injury Court at Edinburgh.

A key element of the court is the quick and efficient disposal of motions by electronic means, allowing for email intimation and submission of motions and interlocutors. It also provides clerks of court with a quasi-judicial function to consider and grant motions of a common and straightforward nature.

The designation of the specialist sheriffs follows a direction from the Lord President under section 34 of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, determining that actions of damages for, or arising from, personal injuries or the death of a person from personal injuries are a category of case that is considered to be suited to being dealt with by sheriffs that specialise in that category of case.

The Sheriff Principal designated Sheriff Graeme Douglas Watson of the Sheriffdom of Lothian and Borders as a specialist under the powers conferred on him by section 35(2) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.