Majority of people still use solicitors despite ten years of non-adversarial compo system:
The Injuries board deal with claims assessments ONLY and as usual they a banging on about how great they are are but yet claimants by and large, continue to use solicitors in filing claims.
Yes as a solicitor, I declare a vested interest in having clients come to me to make claims
Any and every claimant should use a solicitor for one very pressing reason. When PIAB Act was brought in, (at the behest of a far more powerful vested interest than the lawyers, namely the Insurance Industry) it cut the time period for claims from 3 to 2 years.
The Injuries board just processes claims and has a limited role it cannot decide who the correct defendant is often the result of this is that a claimant can get an authorisation against the wrong defendant and there claim will be out of time.Result a denial of justice. Pressing reason enough. Certain defendants have conditons that claimants won’t be aware of such as the Motor Insuers Bureau of Ireland. Claimants in person won’t necessarily know these facets of a claim.
Claims have a market value and solicitors are best placed (better than the insurance industry) with the Bar Council (barristers) to be able to properly value a claims worth.
In big claims, anyone taking an Injuries Board assessment risks undermining their rightful compensation where their Injury may be life long. Compmesation is awarded once only in most cases.The amount of Judges who have stated that the Book of Quantum is of no assistance to them in valuing big claims is significant.
The other timebomb with the injuries baord is what duty of care does it actually have to claimants (when they run out of time or have the wrong defendant) and respondents (without insurance cover) if it just scuffles papers around !
Perhaps the path to Judicial Review Court will be well trodden.
Claimants must have an effective remedy and with respect to Miss Byron her attitude is a continued attack on the legal profession and an erosion of peoples wait for it (constitutional rights).
The views expressed here are solely my own.
PETER CONNOLLY 7/4/15