To be able to work out how much you may be able to claim for personal injury following an accident that was not of your making, the following aspects of your claim need to be taken into account:
- The type of injury you have suffered
- The severity of the injury
- How long your rehabilitation takes
- The psychological effects of the injury
- Any loss of earnings you incurred because of the injury
Personal injury claims payouts are awarded as a form of redress. What that means is that the award of gamages that is made, is made with the intention of putting the claimant back into the position they would have been had they never been injured in the first place. Personal injury settlement awards are calculated by assessing the levels of pain and suffering caused by the injury.
Typical personal injuries are caused by road traffic accidents, industrial disease, falling on pavements and medical negligence. The more harm caused by the accident, and the longer lasting the effects of the injury, the higher the personal injury claims payout. When working out how much you will get for your personal injury claim firstly the Injuries board (PIAB) and if there is no agreement the court will also take into account any financial losses and expenses you have incurred as a result of your injury or illness. The amount you are ultimately awarded will therefore depend on what your loss of income is throughout the duration of your injury, and what expenses you paid as a result of your injury, including: medical bills, transport fares to the hospital and any aids you have purchased to help you. To give you an idea of how much damages you are likely to get for your Personal injury or illness,, you need to first understand that in Ireland all Personal injury claims (not Medical negligence claims) go to the Injuries Board, formerly known as the PIAB.
As is fairly normal most people want to know what award of damages they would be entitled to, as this is often the key deciding factor when deciding to make a claim for Personal injury. If the award is a nominal sum, many people suffering from a Personal injury decide not to take legal action to recover damages for their injuries because they consider the risks of adverse costs outweigh the benefits. Unfortunately, as we all know, a quick calculation of damages in Ireland is not easy to make, as it is first necessary to complete a thorough analysis of the personal injuries; including key factors such as age of the victim, gender, how the injuries have affected their quality of life and the implications for their future health.
A quick calculation of possible damages is therefore likely to be wildly inaccurate and entirely subjective. To arrive at an accurate figure for the Personal injury awards that are likely to be awarded, it is necessary to allow your personal injury solicitor to properly assess the value of the personal injury claim by consulting the Injuries Board’s (PIAB) “Book of Quantum”. The Book of Quantum is at very best a general guide as to the amounts that may be awarded for personal injury damages. It provides at best a guide in respect of specified types of injuries, depending on their severity and the length of time they take to heal. Legislation required the Injuries Board to have regard for the Book of Quantum when accessing claim values. This is not a rigid calculation; the awards given in regards to a Personal injury will always be assessed on an individual basis.
The original Book of Quantum was published in June 2004, and was recently updated in 2016. The new version of the Book of Quantum covers some new Personal injuries which were not covered before by the original Book of Quantum, for example food poisoning, loss of an eye, concussion. The Injuries Board attitude to awarding costs for a Personal injury claim is unclear as they will only do so where the applicant is ‘vulnerable’. However, there is no legal definition of ‘vulnerable’, so it is not clear what it means.
So a Personal injury solicitor’s costs in respect of a personal injuries claim to the Injuries Board will more than likely have to be paid out of any award to the claimant.
