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THE LAW REFORM Commission has today published a report which examines the legislative models that could be introduced to cap the amount which is awarded in damages during personal injuries claims.
It follows a recommendation that the Commission should examine whether a cap on damages awarded in personal injuries cases would be constitutional or desirable, by the Costs of Insurance Working Group (CIWG) and the Personal Injuries Commission (PIC).
The CIWG was set up in 2016 by the Department of Finance to address the rise in the cost of insurance premiums affecting a number of societal groups including motorists and businesses.
A report from that working group lead to the establishment of the PIC, which examined how Ireland compared to other countries by clinical standards, particularly when it came to soft tissue or whiplash injuries, which is the most common personal injury claim.
The Law Reform Commission has outlined four ways in which caps could be introduced to limit the awarded damages in personal injury claims.
Claims in Ireland
In 2018, the Courts Service recorded 22,049 personal injuries cases across the courts system in Ireland.
There were a further 18,992 cases filed in 2015, 21,898 in 2016, and 22,417 in 2017.
Those involved in the insurance industry have called for caps on the compensation awarded in those cases which are successful – the highest amount awarded in damages last year was €15 million.
The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) – an independent state body which assesses compensation claims – also received over 33,000 claims in 2018.
This is up on by around 1,500 on the same figure four years previous in 2014 when there were 31,576 claims made to the board.
The debate around insurance claims and the knock-on effect these claims, and the respective compensation payouts, have on insurance premiums has lead to concerns that a ‘compensation culture’ has developed in Ireland.
The German-based organisers of the popular annual Oktoberfest event in Dublin announced it would not be returning this year saying they were “not used to the claim culture that has developed in Ireland”.
The Ballina Salmon festival was another fatality of rising insurance costs when it announced it would not be proceeding this year.
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All everyone wants is money…. the legal profession want to make it, the injured party wants monetary compensation, the insurance companies want to have more and more of it….. it’s sad that we all feel that our government needs to legislate to sort this problem. It doesn’t reflect well on our society.
@Dec: we were rear ended 2 years ago. My wife was driving, I was the passenger. It was a good serious impact. Yet both our reactions were the bloody hassle this will cause now having to get the car repaired, no car for a few days.
A colleague at work had the same thing happen to her, and decided to take the other reaction, hasn’t been to work obviously for 18 months now, waiting for the claim to go through. Yet I hope assessors find her FB page. We need to put people off making claims, people seem to think I’ll claim for that now as it wasnt my fault
@Dec: thank God for the honest TDs who we elect to represent us all, good lads like Daragh Murphy.
@RJ: send them the link to her Facebook please, and save us all a few Bob in the long run.
@RJ: count yourselves lucky you didn’t have a big accident like falling off a swing
Why does everything take soooo long in this little country of ours , this group was set up in 2016 and still nothing has changed ??? Yet it’s often reported that our “compensation” awards are 4 to 5 times higher than the UK.
Barristers ,Lawyers & Solicitors are laughing all the way to the bank as well as the claimants while Joe Public is paying for all this in higher premiums
It’s a disgrace
@Sean Fox: insurance companies in Ireland are the most profitable in the world
@Thomas Maher: most profitable in the world? If that was the case, insurance companies would be queuing up to enter the market. Instead, they are leaving.
Did you in a previous post call for the nationalisation of the entire insurance industry?
Simple. Establish a book of quantam for claims. Scaled payments v mitigating circumstances. Remove the courts from approval of amount of money. Just whether the claim is approved or denied.
The problem is the judges awarding ridiculous amounts. If they were to refer back to the personal injuries board, there wouldn’t be as many court cases
@sue: the problem is insurance companies making massive profits whilst spinning the line of irelands compo culture
@Thomas Maher: No, the problem is a totally corrupt, self-regulated,greedy and insatiable legal system which is designed and orientated to take a percentage from every aspect of our everyday life!
We need an oireachtas group headed by Alan Farrell and Maria Bailey to sort this problem out.
The fatted calf of the legal profession
Why does anyone really think this will do much for the insurance premiums? You’ll get a token from the industry and then on to the next excuse why they can such us dry.
@Mark V: The problem is compo culture has driven so many non performing smaller insurance companies out of the market. This is a particularly big issue in the public liability side of the arena, hence activity centres being closed down left right and centre. Less competition in a mandatory expense leaves for monopolies held by big players and charging through the nose as a result. If claims awarded were reduced (carrot), fraud and bogus claims were hammered (stick), no win no fee was actually banned and valid court cases sped up, competition in the market would increase and over time prices would be much lower, breaking up the cartel of big insurance providers.
@Tom Cullen: How about if solicitors were 50% liable for court costs in failed civil cases. No win no fee would be dead on its as* and court time/resource wasting on bogus claims would be a thing of the past. Ironically solicitors would be able to avail of insurance against court costs and would feel the pinch that they’ve helped create, that’s if they want to take on frivolous cases.
Can’t wait to see this happen and insurance companies come up with a new excuse for why premiums stay high so people can realise where the actual problem is
Fake injury getting fraud insurance that should automatically big fine €100k in court and including banned driver for life that need change new law tougher and sick of some people fake injury
Change the whole game around so that everyone or their carer has their own personal accident insurance, with add ons for more risky activity, sport, horse riding, rock climbing or whatever. We would thus all be covered for that once in a lifetime accident. Those guilty of HSA breaches would be punished accordingly, not be kept out of business. The present situation is simply untenable, be it creches or Oktoberfests.
As for so called health insurance. It isn’t. Its a crazy system of shared costs, with absolutely zero incentive to lead a more healthy lifestyle.
We need a completely new system of health and accident cover, based on RISK covering everyone.
Never going to happen the legal professionals who are cozy with ffg would loose too much…
There seems to be a common theme in the comments here. The fact that someone decides to drive a lethal weapon around and expect that if they damage another person, their liability should be limited is rather rich.
Have a look at the UK where the “right to drive” is of paramount importance. If you are injured in an accident, you will end up in the care of the state, through no fault of your own. The “right to drive” is not a civil right let alone a human right. It is a privilege and not an entitlement.
If you want to drive the true cost to society of the damage one can inflict needs to be reflected in the costs. There are fraudulent claims, but that is only a part of the issue…
@Tom McHugh: the problem is that many people involved in minor fender benders see it as an opportunity to cash in and the courts award compensation way out of proportion to the damage caused. Soft tissue injuries by defintion cannot be proved objectively. What is objective however is that the vast proportion of people who claim to have these injuries suddenly get better once the claims go through. If you set up a system that is easy to abuse, people will abuse it. The court’s tendency to award outrageous awards is not limited to claims on car insurance is applies to other claims as well. This affects us all.
Not too mention the ridiculous defamation cases that have been in the papers in the last few weeks e.g. Woman humiliated for being asked if she had paid for a bag for life and a couple emotionally damaged for being asked to pay for their restaurant bill while going out for a smoke.
These cases were thrown out but no costs awarded against them, and it is probably very traumatic for the staff who have to deal with this at the time and right up until the case.is finally thrown out.
have your say