Lodging Your Claim

When lodging a Personal Injury claim it is important to remember that it takes time and is a lengthy process. If you have suffered from an injury, you have two years from the date of the accident to lodge a claim. The majority of personal injury claims must be lodged first through the Personal Injury Assessment Board (PIAB), with the exception of Medical Negligence cases.

Once you have contacted your Solicitor and had your initial consultation, your Solicitor will work on compiling all relevant information and evidence together to support your claim. The first form that will be completed is a ‘Form A’ which is a 13-page document that your Solicitor will help you complete. It costs €45 to submit a claim online and €90 if submitted by post.

When submitting a ‘Form A’, a Medical Report must also be submitted by your treating doctor or GP. This is one of the most important documents required to allow your case to progress.

Once your claim has been submitted, PIAB will acknowledge receipt of the application and will notify the person at fault of your claim known as the Respondent, who will have 90 days to respond to the claim.

Once the application has been submitted and accepted by PIAB, the two-year time limit in which you have to bring a personal Injury claim will be frozen, during the period of time in which PIAB take to assess the claim.

PIAB Assessment

• Determining the Value

Once the Respondent has been notified, they can agree to have your claim assessed.

The majority of Respondents agree to have the claim assessed.

To assess the claim fully, PIAB will determine the monetary value of your claim, meaning the compensation they believe you are entitled to. With the help of your Solicitor, we will complete a document for all ‘out-of-pocket expenses’ and ‘loss of earnings’ and provide proof of these to PIAB.

Once all of this information has been submitted to PIAB, they will make an assessment determining how much compensation they will award in respect of your claim. They do this by referring to the “Personal Injury Guidelines”, which are the current guideline levels in place for the awarding of compensation by PIAB and the Courts.

Once this assessment has been issued, you would need to consider the suggested compensation amount. Your Solicitor will be able to advise you on this; however, the decision to accept or reject the assessment will remain solely with you.

PIAB Assessment– Accepted

• Compensation Agreed

If the PIAB assessment has been accepted by both you and the Respondent, this means that you both agree that the compensation suggested by PIAB is appropriate for the injuries you have sustained.

To obtain the amount from the Respondent or their insurance company, PIAB will issue you with an ‘Order to Pay’ which is similar to a Court Order.

In the majority of cases, the Respondent is represented by an insurance company who will handle the matter on their behalf and any compensation awarded will most likely be paid by the insurer.

PIAB Assessment – Rejected

• Going to Court

Should either you or the Respondent reject the PIAB Assessment, you will be provided with the Authorization from PIAB. This document allows your Solicitor to issue Court Proceedings against the person at fault for your accident/injury.

Your Solicitor will gather further updated information and evidence from you to support your claim and will instruct a Barrister to prepare the necessary Legal Proceedings to progress the case to Court for a Judge to decide on the outcome.

McGrath McGrane LLP initiated the claim on behalf of our client with the French insurers of the vehicle, who contested liability. We made an application to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) on behalf of the client. As expected, given the fact that the accident occurred outside Ireland, PIAB declined to assess the claim and issued an Authorisation which entitled our client to issue proceedings in Ireland.

We issued proceedings in Ireland on behalf of our client against the French driver and owner of the vehicle and their insurers. The case progressed and ultimately the French insurers, through their Irish solicitors, sought to meet to discuss possible settlement of the case. A settlement meeting took place at the Four Courts, Dublin and ultimately the case was settled for a figure in excess of €25,000.00 plus costs.

Many people are unaware that if you have an accident and suffer personal injuries outside of Ireland, it still may be possible to bring the case before the Irish Courts. If you have suffered personal injuries from an accident outside Ireland contact us info@mcgrathmullan.ie to see if it may be possible to successfully bring a claim.

At the time of the accident, the car driver apologised to our client but subsequently tried to claim that the accident was the fault of our client.

Our client’s claim was lodged with the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (P.I.A.B.). The insurers of the vehicle that collided with our client declined to have the case assessed by PIAB, on the basis that they alleged our client was responsible for the accident. However, despite this they made a “Without Prejudice” offer to settle our client’s claim for the sum of €8,000.00. Our client was very tempted to accept the offer, particularly as the insurance company was claiming that our client was responsible for the accident.

McGrath McGrane LLP advised the client to reject the offer as we felt it was not sufficient compensation for the injuries suffered. We also felt that responsibility for the accident lay with the car driver. The client accepted our advice and rejected the offer of €8,000.00. We subsequently issued proceedings on behalf of our client and having done so, we received an invitation to settlement discussions with the insurance company’s claims negotiator. We settled the case for our client for a sum in excess of €22,500.00*.

If you have suffered a personal injury and wish to take a case to pursue damages to compensate you for that injury, McGrath McGrane LLP can help you with that case. Contact us here – info@mcgrathmullan.ie

*Note – In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate their professional fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.

We advised the client that the employer has a responsibility to provide a safe place of work for employees. In these circumstances, we believed that the employer had failed to do so and therefore would be found responsible for the injuries suffered by our client. The employer has a statutory duty under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (as amended) to provide and maintain a safe workplace for employees.

McGrath McGrane LLP (McGrath Mullan) initiated a claim on behalf of our client against the employer. We made an application to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) on behalf of our client and the employer consented to the case being assessed by PIAB. PIAB assessed the client’s claim at a figure in excess of €54,000.00. Although it was a substantial award, McGrath McGrane LLP (McGrath Mullan) advised the client to reject the award, as we felt it was not sufficient compensation for our client’s injuries.

If the client did reject the assessment, they would have to issue Court proceedings in order to further their claim.

The assessment was accepted by the client’s employers. This meant that if our client rejected the assessment and failed to recover a figure greater than the €54,000 in the subsequent Court proceedings, the client could not receive an order for the costs of those proceedings.

Our client decided he would take McGrath McGrane (McGrath Mullan) LLP’s advice and reject the PIAB assessment. We notified PIAB that our client was rejecting the PIAB assessment and PIAB issued an authorisation to proceed to Court. We then issued proceedings in the High Court on behalf of our client.

McGrath McGrane (McGrath Mullan) LLP subsequently settled the client’s case for a sum in excess of €68,000.00*.

If you have suffered a personal injury and wish to take a case to pursue damages to compensate you for that injury, contact McGrath Mullan here – info@mcgrathmullan.ie
*Note – In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate their professional fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.

Although the driver of the vehicle that hit our client’s car claimed to be insured, it transpired that they were not insured. Our client was extremely concerned upon learning that the other driver was not insured. However, we were able to reassure our client that even in these circumstances, where the other driver had no insurance, our client would still be able to recover compensation for his personal injuries through the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).

The MIBI was specifically set up so that compensation would be available to victims of uninsured and untraced drivers who have suffered personal injuries in road traffic accidents. We notified the MIBI of our client’s claim and completed the necessary documentation to register it with the MIBI. The MIBI nominated an insurance company to deal with the case. After corresponding with and exchanging information regarding the case, we progressed the case to a stage where it was ready for settlement discussions. Settlement negotiations then took place between ourselves and the insurance company. Following negotiations, we settled our client’s case for a sum in excess of €18,000.00*.

Our client was very happy with the result and by settling with the insurance company directly and not putting the claim into the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB), our client was saved the delay of the PIAB process and the uncertainty of not knowing for what amount PIAB would assess the claim.

If you have suffered a personal injury and wish to take a case to pursue damages to compensate you for that injury, contact McGrath Mullan here – info@mcgrathmullan.ie
*Note – In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate their professional fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.

Extreme difficulty was encountered in trying to identify the party/parties responsible for the falling glass. After considerable investigations, we identified a number of parties who may have been responsible. However, liability for the accident was denied by all parties contacted. An application was then made to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) on behalf of the client, naming all of the parties whom we had identified as possibly being responsible for the falling glass.

The parties named as respondents in the PIAB application declined to have the matter assessed by PIAB and consequently an authorisation issued from PIAB. McGrath Mullan LLP advised the client to issue Court proceedings, in order to secure compensation, despite the fact that the proposed defendants were denying liability.

Our client took our advices and we issued Court proceedings on behalf of our client. Ultimately, solicitors came on record for all of the defendants named and invited McGrath Mullan LLP to settlement discussions. Settlement discussions took place and ultimately, the client’s case was settled for a sum in the region of €25,000.

The client was very happy with the result which had been achieved, without the necessity of having to go through a Court hearing.

If you have been injured through someone’s negligence and think you may be entitled to compensation, McGrath Mullan LLP will be able to advise you as to your rights.* Please feel free to contact us on 01-8735012 or at info@mcgrathmullan.ie.

*Note – In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.

The Guidelines apply to the assessment of damages in all personal injuries claims made on or after 24 April 2021. The Book of Quantum will continue to apply to proceedings commenced prior to 24th of April 2021 or where an assessment was made by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board prior to 24th of April 2021 and was deemed not to be accepted.

Ultimately these guidelines seek to reduce the levels of awards for most categories of personal injury whereby the damages awarded must be proportionate with the injuries sustained. An example of the significant reduction contained within the new guidelines can be seen in the case of a minor neck injury, which has substantially resolved within six months. This is now valued between €500.00 to €3,000.00 in contrast with the old Book of Quantum valuation, where the same type of injury is valued up to €15,700.00. A court may only depart from the new personal Injuries guidelines where it is justified in doing so and explains the reasoning for its departure in the judgment.

It has recently been reported that the average PIAB assessment in personal injuries cases has dropped by about 50 per cent in the last two months following the introduction of the new guidelines.

The implementation of the guidelines has been met with some apprehension by judges and the legal profession. It is envisaged that that there will be a large number of constitutional challenges to follow with two cases having recently been filed in the High Court seeking declarations that sections of the Judicial Council Act are unconstitutional.

The Department of Justice will report on the impact of the guidelines by December 2021, with a view to reviewing the guidelines every three years.

If you have been injured through someone’s negligence and think you may be entitled to compensation, McGrath Mullan LLP will be able to advise you as to your rights.* Please feel free to contact us on 01-8735012 or at info@mcgrathmullan.ie.

*Note – In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.

McGrath Mullan LLP was instructed by the parents of a child who suffered personal injuries while in a McDonald’s restaurant.

The accident occurred when a member of staff accidentally knocked over a hot beverage cup. Unfortunately, the contents of the cup spilled on the child causing the child to suffer burn injuries.

McGrath Mullan LLP advised the parents of the child regarding the child’s right to claim compensation for the personal injuries suffered. An application was made to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board on behalf of the child and the respondent consented to the claim being assessed.

The processing of the claim took some time as it was necessary for medical advisors to allow time to pass in order to give an accurate prognosis for the child’s injuries, which included burn injuries.

Ultimately, the assessment was issued by PIAB and same was accepted by the respondent and by the client, subject to the ruling of the Court.

The PIAB assessment had to be ruled by the Court as the claimant was under the age of 18. This is basically a safeguard for underage claimants to ensure that the Court is satisfied that the interests of the underage claimant are being properly looked after by their advisers. McGrath Mullan LLP arranged for the matter to be listed before the High Court.

If you are in need of legal assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at 01 873 5012 or info@mcgrathmullan.ie and we would be glad to assist you.