The six-month analysis produced by the Injuries Board has shown that more Injury Board assessments are being rejected than ever before.
The analysis – which is published on the news pages of www.injuriesboard.ie – demonstrates that fewer plaintiffs are accepting the Injuries Board assessments of their compensation claims, and using solicitors to negotiate a settlement directly with the negligent party´s insurers or pursuing court action.
In the six months to June 2013, the Injuries Board received 16,162 applications for assessment and had 5,286 assessment accepted by plaintiffs – 32.7 percent. In the corresponding period for 2012, 14,685 applications for assessment were received by the Injuries Board, of which 5,180 assessments (37.2 percent) were accepted.
Selected extraordinary Injuries Boards assessments – including their largest ever award of €976,000 – increased the total value of personal injury compensation processed by the organisation during the six month period to €118.14 million (up 8.35 percent on 2012), while the average time it take to process Injuries Board assessments crept up once again to 7.4 months – meaning that, with the 90 days a respondent gets to consent to an assessment by the Injuries Board, and the time that elapses between both parties accepting an assessment and an Order to Pay being issued, it is likely to take more than a year to settle a claim for personal injury compensation through the Injuries Board process.
Please note: even if your solicitor is in negotiations with the party responsible for causing you an injury, it is still necessary to go through the Injuries Board process (except in the case of medical negligence compensation claims and certain professional negligence claims). Should your solicitor be unable to obtain a satisfactory resolution of your claim through negotiation, he or she will need an Authorisation from the Injuries Board to pursue court action – Authorisation which can only been issued once an assessment has been completed and rejected.
Commenting on the release of the six-month analysis, Patricia Byron – CEO of the Injuries Board – said that despite the “double digit increases” she saw no reason for insurance companies to use these figures as the basis for a hike in premiums. Ms Byron added that a reduction in the processing fee paid by respondents (usually insurance companies) should more than offset the increased number of claims and higher average awards.