Solicitors in Co Galway claim a new Government insurance structure will only benefit insurance companies and not genuine claimants. Ann Healy reports.
The Government legislation is to be enacted this year in an effort to stamp out fraudulent personal injury claims
The president of the Galway Solicitors' Bar Association, Mr Jarleth McInerney, says the Government's insurance reform will be grossly unfair to genuine claimants who are injured as a result of the negligence of others.
"There seems to be a suggestion that all claims are fraudulent. The fact of the matter is the vast majority of claims are genuine. They have to be brought because people are genuinely injured, and they miss time off work and are seriously out of pocket as a result of the negligence of others."
According to the association, which represents solicitors in Galway city and county, the new legislation will oversee the creation of a Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB), which, they say, has been set up at the behest of insurance companies.
Mr McInerney says the new board will be grossly unfair in that there will be no provision for claimants to be legally represented at board hearings, while insurance companies will be entitled to retain an array of legal, actuarial, medical and engineering expertise.
"This will create a real imbalance in the position of parties before the board, and particularly for individual members of the public who may not feel comfortable, confident or skilled enough to deal with official bodies. The PIAB has effectively been set up at the behest of insurance companies, and the new system will be stacked in their favour.
"Claimants will have to prepare their own documentation, gather together their own medical evidence, (which involves paying for medical reports), submit their claim to a faceless, nameless board and await a response - and all without legal advice or representation," Mr McInerney says.
The Galway Solicitors' Bar Association is also concerned that the legislation will reduce the statute of limitations in negligence cases from the current three-year limit to just one year.
Under the new proposals being introduced by the Tánaiste, Mary Harney this year, all claims will have to be notified to the PIAB within two months of occurring, and legal proceedings will have to commence within 12 months, instead of the current 36-month period.
The Galway bar association, along with other solicitors' bars around the country, will be voicing its concerns to local politicians in the coming weeks. It is seeking their support for the right of genuine claimants to retain legal representation in personal injuries claims before the PIAB.