Personal Injury Claims
Litigation Costs
The Irish system underpinning the recovery of costs in Irish litigation is derived from British practice and systems but lags behind developments there. The basic principle is that the client is responsible for paying his or her costs and may only recover those costs in the event of winning. The corollary of the second leg of the prior sentence is that the client is responsible for ALL costs in the event of losing. That means that the client is liable […]
Beaumont Hospital and infections
HIQA has reported on the wholesale failure of staff in Beaumont hospital to wash their hands. (A pdf of their report is available here) The staff knows, in theory, about the germ theory of disease but like everybody else they experience its apparent refutation. We are surrounded by bacteria, we live in a sea of bacteria and few of us are seriously damaged by them. Why, then, is it unacceptable to fail to wash your hands? The answer lies in […]
The PIAB Injuries Board pitfalls
The Personal Injuries Assessment Board was established and is operated on a flawed proposition; that it deals with matters of such simplicity that injured persons seeking an assessment have no need of legal advice or assistance in doing so. The proposition is flawed as a matter of commonsense. Before the introduction of the Injuries Board system (then known as the Personal Injuries Assessment Board or PIAB) almost every claimant for compensation for personal injury sought the assistance and advice of […]
The Injuries Board gives no awards
Here at McGarr Solicitors we do not make “awards” of damages for personal injury claims. We do not have that power. We do not claim to have that power.
However, neither does the Injuries Board have that power, even though they tell the unsophisticated members of the press that they do have that power.
Harley Medical Group – Did you get this notice?
RULE 4.228 OF THE INSOLVENCY RULES 1986 NOTICE TO THE CREDITORS OF AN INSOLVENT COMPANY OF THE RE-USE OF A PROHIBITED NAME THE HARLEY MEDICAL CENTRE LIMITED (Company Number 01728619) I, Melvin Braham, of 11 Queen Anne Street, London W1G 9LJ was a Director of the above named company on the day it went into administration. I give notice that I am acting and intend to continue to act in one or more of the ways to which Section 216(3) […]
A Car Accident, Solicitors and the common good
Modern people, sportsmen/women excepted, are most at risk of serious injury when travelling on the road. The energy bundled in a motor car, or other vehicle, is considerable. If that energy is suddenly blocked, which is what happens in a typical car accident, it must go somewhere and, unfortunately, it sometimes goes into us. Then you are injured and the nature and extent of that injury is determined by chance. Make no mistake; as a society, we have planned these accidents. […]
The Injuries Board steps up its War on “Thoughts”
The Injuries Board is also called the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. It was established by statute in 2003. Every person wishing to recover compensation for a personal injury inflicted by wrongdoers must first apply to the Injuries Board for an assessment of the value of the claim. The Board has issued an article today (26th March 2013) and Patricia Byron, Chief Executive, went on Morning Ireland for an interview. The upshot of the article and the interview is this; personal […]
Injuries, Injuries…
One in three accidents at work occurs in connection with “manual handling”. Employers owe a legal duty of care to their employees. The duty of care includes taking reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of employees and to avoid accidents at work. The precise terms of the duty of care may be found in the law of negligence or it may be found in a statute, as a precise legal rule. In the case of the obligation to […]
Now, this bell tolling for another, says to me, thou must die
Perfect justice does not exist. When a person is injured, by the fault of another, only a money payment is available in law to compensate him or her. This inadequacy is unavoidable. Recently, in Ireland, a generation of politicians, civil servants and some lawyers, decided to trade even this inadequacy to further their prospects and careers. They promoted the interests of the defence in personal injury claims, over the interests of the injured plaintiff and some still do so. They […]
British is Better
With very little bother or trouble, the Oireachtas could and should remedy a real and persistent injustice for many injured persons. In Hu -v- Duleek Formwork Ltd & Anor [2013 IEHC 50, the High Court declined to make a declaration that the Plaintiff was entitled to the benefit of an insurance contract taken out by the insolvent Defendant company. The insurance company, Aviva, took issue with the Defendant’s failure to pay the excess of €1,000 which, as between the Defendant and […]