An article by Patricia McDonagh in today’s Irish Independent shows that the general public has clearly completely lost faith in the Injuries Board Ireland.
There were 7,099 personal injury cases filed in the High Court and 6,999 cases filed in the Circuit Court in 2009. This compares to 746 cases filed in the High Court in 2005, the year after the Injuries Board Ireland was set up. So while the Injuries Board process was initially effective in persuading people to forgo their right to litigation and legal council, people soon realised that they would get higher compensation by hiring a solicitor and at least threatening to go to court (very few cases actually arrive in court). The trend toward avoiding settling cases through the Injuries Board process and going to court is accelerating. It is believed that up to 90% of all claimants now use a solicitor.
According to McDonagh “New figures show people are going to court because they can receive higher compensation awards and get their legal costs if they are successful.”
The Irish Independent quotes senior counsel David Nolan’s explanation of why so many people are not accepting the compensation amounts recommended by the Injuries Board: “People realise that the value of their case is better being determined by a court rather than a civil service quagmire like InjuriesBoard.ie.”
It is unfair to call the injuries Board a ‘quagmire’ because in fact, it has actually speeded up the personal injury claims process in Ireland by stopping insurance companies from dragging out the process over as many years as possible.