Results 11,081-11,100 of 35,617 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is why I am raising the issue of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Act 2007, which specifically deals with this issue. My question is how often that is happening. How often are the courts not awarding costs and is there any indication from Insurance Ireland in this regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: If I can put it this way, does Insurance Ireland know of any court case in regard to somebody who did not accept a PIAB settlement award, which went to the High Court and where section 51A of the legislation, which means the individual would not be paid their costs, was effected?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I am not talking about individual cases. I am trying to figure out Insurance Ireland's knowledge in regard to any of this. Is it aware this is happening or not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that. Insurance Ireland makes the point about PIAB and suggests the level of cases that are not being accepted has increased as a percentage over the last period. We know from the Central Bank report that PIAB is probably the most effective way of keeping costs down and, indeed, is more effective than the insurance companies settling the claims themselves. How many claims have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: As we are probably talking about a ten-year period, there would be some 12,000 cases over that period. Has Insurance Ireland done any analysis of those? Once it rejects a case or rejects a settlement, it is more than likely that it goes into litigation or else the insurance company settles, which is unlikely if it is the one rejecting the settlement. When the case goes into litigation,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I find that shocking. Has Insurance Ireland done any analysis of the 1,200 claims it rejects each year from PIAB with regard to how many of them fall into the different categories, for example, €1 to €10,000, €10,000 to €20,000, €20,000 to €30,000, and those above €100,000?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: We can ask PIAB in that regard. The point I am making is that it is likely the 1,200 claims that Insurance Ireland is rejecting are claims that have higher costs, that is, those that are at the higher end of perhaps €90,000 or €100,000. We know the cost of these claims when they are litigated makes up over 50% of total costs, even though they are a small proportion, given some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, I meant the insurance companies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I understand that. When they settle on a quantum, when they settle on a figure to pay a claimant who may have serious bodily injuries, insurance companies affiliated to Insurance Ireland reject 1,200 of the cases based on the quantum. They go to court and if they are at the higher end, they could make up in excess of 53% of the entire legal costs of all litigated claims in the courts. Let...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That takes me to the next point. We are just dealing with PIAB at the minute and I did not suggest the insurance companies are clogging up the courts. I am trying to find out, for the cases they have rejected, whether it has been the case that they have been at the higher end. Have they resulted in significant legal fees? For cases above €100,000 the legal fees are significantly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Can Mr. Hassett explain one thing to the committee? The figure for settlements between insurance companies is above 90% of all claimants. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, direct settlements.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I do not mean the value of cost but rather the number of claims.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I am looking at page 22, which has details on settlement of claims. Under all claim types, it states 94% are directly settled, while 2% are resolved under PIAB and 4% are litigated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: It is page 22. Anyway, that takes in all claims. Let us move on to personal injury claims.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I understand that. Let us move on to personal injury claims. The figure is 53%. Then 14% of claims are settled through PIAB and 33% of claims are litigated. I do not have the figure before me but we know close to 50% of PIAB awards are not accepted either by the insurance company or the claimant. This corresponds to approximately 6,000 cases per year. It should correspond to 14%. What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Please look at page 24. In 2018, some 53% of personal injury claims were settled directly by the company while 14% were settled by PIAB. This means approximately 14% of those PIAB settlements were rejected and litigated, but 33% of claims are actually settled through the courts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: How many cases did the insurance companies refuse eligibility for PIAB to deal with? That is one of the provisions insurance companies have.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Access to Justice and Legal Costs: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Dec 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Would that arise where insurance companies do not admit liability?