Legal News

A personal injury action proceeding through the Court system may last many months or even years. However most personal injury cases never reach a Court room at all. Instead, they are successfully settled outside of it. The Defendant, though their solicitor, will offer an amount of money which if accepted should satisfy your claim; eliminating the need to appear in court. For what should I be compensated?

In Ireland all personal injury claims (with some exceptions) must be submitted to the Injuries Board. Click here for more information on the process.

Most people are concerned by the potential costs of court proceedings when making a personal injury claim. Generally, under the Courts system, ‘costs follow the event’ such that the wrongdoer pays the injured party’s costs of seeking compensation in addition to the compensation itself. This means that if you are successful in your case, the defendant has to pay all or most of your legal expenses in addition to your compensation award. The defendant will pay for the solicitors’ professional fees, engineer’s fees, medical report fees, other expert report fees. However there are instances where a shortfall occurs between what the defendant is ordered to pay and the actual costs incurred by the Plaintiff.  In such circumstances, the Plaintiff will be responsible for these fees, usually paid out of any compensation award. Some costs are not routinely covered, and these include a portion of the witnesses’ fees, and in particular, expert witnesses’ fees. You will likely have to pay these sums out of your compensation award, or otherwise out of your own pocket. This includes the initial application fee to the Injuries Board. However, it is important to realize that most personal injury cases never reach court at all. Instead, they are successfully settled outside of court.