Judges vote to slash personal injury awards
Insurance campaigners say cuts don’t go far enough
NEW guidelines approved by judges will see awards for minor whiplash injuries cut by more than half.
There will also be significant cuts to awards for a range of other injuries in what amounts to a seismic shake-up of the personal injury claims landscape.
At a virtual meeting of the Judicial Council yesterday, judges voted by a margin of 83 to 63 to adopt the guidelines.
Despite the level of cuts approved, insurance costs campaigners said the guidelines did not go far enough.
The Alliance for Insurance Reform, which had sought an 80pc decrease in the size of minor whiplash awards, said it was “dismayed” and called on the Government to intervene and legislate to cap damages.
Minor whiplash is seen as the most significant injury in the insurance costs debate.
The Book of Quantum, which the new guidelines will replace, currently allows awards of up to €19,400 for whiplash injuries where a full recovery is expected.
In practice, lawyers say minor whiplash injuries attract awards of between €8,000 and €12,000 where a substantial recovery occurs within six months to a year, and between €15,000 and €18,000 where the claimant substantially recovers within one to two years.
Under the guidelines, awards will drop to between €3,000 and €6,000 for socalled “one-year whiplash” and to between €6,000 and €12,000 where recovery takes place within two years.
Cuts of between 40 and 60pc were made to a range of other common injuries.
One of the most severe cuts saw awards for minor nose fractures cut from between €18,000 and €22,100 to between €500 and €3,000.
The most minor of leg, knee, ankle, Achilles tendon, foot, toe and facial scarring injuries could also attract awards as low as €500.
While minor and middling jury awards are being cut, general damages awards for the most devastating and catastrophic injuries are set to be increased from €500,000 to €550,000.
The guidelines were drawn up by a committee chaired by High Court President Mary Irvine. Although endorsed by the board of the Judicial Council, they faced opposition from certain quarters of the judiciary, with some believing the cuts to be too severe.
Ms Justice Irvine’s committee said that aside from reducing damages for lower and middling injuries, it also hoped the improved guidance would provide greater certainty as to what can be recovered for a particular injury, lead to more cases settling early and reduce legal costs.
The committee compared Irish awards with those in Northern Ireland and England and Wales. In contrast to the Personal Injuries Commission’s finding that damages for soft tissue injuries were approximately 4.4 times those in the UK, research commissioned by the judicial committee found Irish awards were 1.2 to 1.3 times higher than in Northern Ireland and twice to 2.3 times higher than in England and Wales.
In a note on its website, the Judicial Council said that if there is a correlation between award levels and insurance premiums, the impact of the guidelines on insurance premiums would depend upon whether insurance companies pass on savings to consumers.
Personal injuries solicitor and former Law Society president Stuart Gilhooly described the award cuts as “savage”.
But he expressed doubts that insurers would cut premiums significantly as a result.
The guidelines will not apply to cases already before the courts.