The Injuries Board Annual Report for 2012 has revealed a greater awareness of an injured party´s right to claim personal injury compensation when they have been hurt in an accident which was not their fault.
The report, which has been published on the injuriesboardie.com web site, showed that applications for the assessment of personal injury claims in Ireland submitted to the Injuries Board had risen 4.7 percent in 2012 to 28,962 (excluding claims for DePuy Hip Replacement Compensation); mostly influenced by a significant rise in the number of personal injury claims for compensation following a road traffic accident (up 6.7 percent on 2011).
Just less than 35 percent of the assessments made by the Injuries Board were accepted by plaintiffs as acceptable (10,136) with the average settlement value being €21,502 and 75 percent of those being for road traffic injury compensation claims. Injuries at work accounted for 8 percent of accepted Injuries Board assessments, while people injured in a place of public access made up the remainder of those exercising their right to claim personal injury compensation.
In a press statement accompanying the release of the 2012 Annual Report, Patricia Byron – CEO of the Injuries Board – commented on the greater awareness of an injured party´s right to claim personal injury compensation by saying “The steady but consistent increase in claims volumes over the past five years is a real concern at a time when our roads have never been safer and we have fewer people at work”.
Ms Byron also expressed her fears that there was an “emerging claims culture” which, she hoped, would be addressed in the forthcoming Legal Services Bill, which is due to be introduced this coming summer by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.