Mr. Stuart Gilhooly:

I will explain how that works. There is no real set way. As we probably all know now, different insurance companies operate in different ways. There will often be correspondence early in a case making an offer which is frequently not acceptable. It tends to work that way as Ms Moorhead has said. Insurance companies will try to settle a case at a lower level early on; that makes sense for them. It can and often does make sense for the claimant, and often the case is settled at an early stage. However, there are many cases in which it is just not appropriate to do so.

I have come across increasingly bizarre behaviour by insurance companies regarding the Injuries Board. Occasionally, I will get what I regard as a very straightforward case, for example, a rear-end collision in which clearly liability is not an issue, and the case is rejected by the insurance company even to go through the Injuries Board. I often have to say to clients: "I have no idea why this has happened. Is there something I'm missing here? Did this accident happen the way you said it happened?" They just look at me. Then two months later, having issued court proceedings - as I have to - I get a phone call from an insurance company asking if I want to settle. I am left wondering what happened there and why the insurance company did not let the case go through the Injuries Board. I usually get a blank response with an indication that something happened there. There is increasingly strange behaviour by the insurance companies in how they deal with the Injuries Board. They would probably tell the committee that themselves.

A case can be settled at any point. It is very simple: if the offer is right, all of us, solicitors and barristers, will advise the claimant to take the money. It does not matter at what stage in the process - pre the PIAB, during it or on the steps of the court - if the money is right, it must be accepted. We have a professional obligation to do so and that is what we do.