IIF: 42% Legal Cost of Compensation in Personal Injuries Cases is Too High

High costs in Ireland is caused by high accident like road accident, workplace accidents, public/product liability claims resulting to high claims, high damage awards in personal injury costs and high ancillary costs in delivering personal injury compensation.

As a result to this insurance companies are complaining of the soaring legal cost of compensation.

April 1, 2005 – Michael Kemp, chief executive of the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) said that the current system of settling personal injury and claims is not giving value for money in terms of the involvement of legal advisers in insurance cases, in the length of that involvement from initiation to settlement of claims and in the time taken to resolve these cases.

Kemp further said, "Motor and liability insurance premiums in Ireland are higher - in some cases substantially higher - than in most European countries. This is principally because of the high cost of claims for personal injury. The causes behind the high costs facing insurers must be addressed in order to bring Irish costs down to European levels.

The IIF strongly supports the establishment of the Government's proposed Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) and calls on the Law Society and Bar Council to engage positively in this initiative. The IIF would like to see the PIAB in operation as soon as possible. The PIAB is not about depriving plaintiffs of their entitlement either in material terms or in restricting access to the courts, but it can help to deliver compensation more quickly and cost effectively than the current system. The insurance industry believes that the PIAB system has the potential to make meaningful savings in the costs associated with personal injury claims.”

It is said that high costs in Ireland is brought about by high accident like road accident, workplace accidents, public liability and product liability claims thus result to high claims, high damage awards in personal injury costs and high ancillary costs in delivering personal injury compensation.

Kemp concluded, “The benefit of the PIAB goes well beyond financial savings. The PIAB could improve public confidence in our civil justice system where currently skepticism prevails. Also, the PIAB should be able to centralize information on all cases, whether settled, adjudicated by the PIAB itself or decided by the courts. This has the potential to be of great assistance to all involved in the claims handling process - litigants, lawyers and insurers”.

source: Pressbox.co.uk (Last Updated: Friday, 01 April, 2005)

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