Tightly-drawn brackets will steer PI cases to settlement

The Judicial Council expects an increased number of early settlements as a result of the newly published Personal Injuries Guidelines for damages, and therefore a reduction in the legal costs of both claimants and defendants.

Where lower awards apply to a category of injury, it will result in many cases in future being commenced in a lower court, the Council says. This will reduce the recoverable costs.

‘Anchored in reality’?

However, the Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee says that its work is “anchored in reality”, and took into consideration lobbying on the cost of insurance by those in business.

Greater consistency will inevitably result from more tightly-drawn brackets, the committee says, pointing out that only a very small minority of claims become the subject matter of an award of damages by a court.

“The vast majority of claims are settled without recourse to the courts, either as a result of an offer of settlement made by an insurance company, or an award made by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board,” the committee says.

Any emerging system must be just and fair to both parties, “including those who sustain injuries through the wrongful acts of third parties whose actions are not indemnified under any policy of insurance”. 

Judges’ findings

Judges have always been required to explain the findings they have made in deciding upon the level of personal-injury damages to be awarded in any case.

This obligation remains, but now judges will clearly have to identify the facts upon which they have relied if they make an award of damages outside of the relevant brackets.

Draft

The first draft of Personal Injuries Guidelines was written pursuant to section 18 (4), as amended, of the Judicial Council Act 2019.

After preparation, the guidelines were sent to the board of the Judicial Council for review. The Judicial Council, whose membership consists of all of Ireland’s judges, then decided to adopt them on Saturday (6 March).

The Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee consists of seven judges, namely:

• Chair: Ms Justice Mary Irvine (ex officio, Supreme Court),
• Mr Justice Seamus Noonan (Court of Appeal),
• Mr Justice Michael MacGrath (High Court), 
• Mr Justice Senan Allen (High Court),
• Judge Jacqueline Linnane (Circuit Court),
• Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin (Circuit Court), and
• Judge Brian O’Shea (District Court).

Jurisdictions

These judges represent each of the five court jurisdictions, and were nominated by the chief justice after consultation with the presidents of the other courts.

The guidelines will take effect once section 99 of the Judicial Council Act 2019 is commenced by the Minister for Justice.

They will replace the Book of Quantum and will encompass all injury, negligence and malpractice awards, including all claims for general damages for pain and suffering in respect of personal injuries.

Future awards will be driven down as a result of the guidelines, with the exception of awards for the most serious types of injury and catastrophic injury.

Damages of €550,000 have been set as a “fair and just” sum for catastrophic injury.

It is expected that settlement talks will now be conducted, having regard to the guidelines.

Under the terms of the act, the guidelines are required to be reviewed every three years.

Standards of living

The committee looked to other countries with similar standards of living, culture and expectations in drawing up the proposed brackets of damages for individual injuries.

The Irish judiciary is alone in publishing a report detailing the work that went into preparing the guidelines, the Judicial Council has said.

The committee did not address the question of whether damages awards made by Irish courts are responsible for the levels of insurance premiums in the State.

However, if there is such a correlation, the committee says that any reduction in the cost of insurance in the State will depend on whether any savings that accrue to insurance companies are passed on to policyholders.

The Judicial Council established the Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee last April, and its first meeting took place on 7 May.

Inquisitorial

Its work was not inquisitorial in nature or designed to inform Government policy, as distinct from other State bodies’ research on the law on personal injuries, court awards and the costs of claims arising from personal injury.

Those bodies include the Personal Injuries Commission, the Law Reform Commission as well as the Central Bank.