Personal injury claims on the rise in our courts

THE number of personal injury claims filed to Irish courts rose by 15% last year.

According to a Courts Service report, some 21,898 personal injury suits were filed in 2016 with medical negligence accounting for 1,001 of them.

Chief Justice Susan Denham launched the 2016 report yesterday with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan – and it was also revealed that more than €168.5million was paid out in settlements across the High Court, Circuit Court and District Court last year.

The report also detailed that the number of personal debt resolution cases coming before the courts rose by 125%. The number of people engaging with personal insolvency practitioners appears to have increased as there was a dramatic rise in applications made under the debt resolution mechanisms and the Personal Insolvency Act. Some 526 people were ruled bankrupt.

New possession cases have decreased by 111% over the course of two years and there was a 32% decrease in the number of new possession cases lodged year on year.

Some 1,135 orders for possession were recorded – 47 in the High Court, a 58% fall on 2015, and 1,088 in Circuit Court, a 42% decrease on the previous year.

The Courts Service received almost 750,000 matters last year, and supported 24,588 sittings of the courts along with 976 staff members and 170 judges.

The number of trials heard in the Central Criminal Court has increased by 48% over two years, the Courts Service said.

It also noted there was a 3% decrease in applications for divorce and a 6% increase in applications to the District Court relating to domestic violence.

There were also 7,800 orders in relation to drink driving offences, an 8% increase on the previous year.