Law Society chief steps up attack on personal injuries board

SOLICITORS yesterday renewed their attack on the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) as “a triumph of defence interests over those of victims.”

Law Society of Ireland director general Ken Murphy said the PIAB forced people seeking personal injury compensation into a system that was designed to disadvantage them.

“Indeed, the new system will benefit the very people whose negligence caused the injury,” he added.

“The Law Society has opposed this unfairness on grounds of principle.”

Earlier, however, at a press launch for the PIAB, chairperson Dorothea Dowling accused lawyers of feeding the media “inaccurate lines.” She rejected, as “scaremongering,” suggestions that claimants would be getting lower compensation levels.

From today, people will be able to access the PIAB website (www.piab.ie) to make themselves familiar with its workings.

From June 1, all personal injury claims arising from workplace accidents where an employee is seeking compensation must be referred to the PIAB before legal proceedings are issued.

Ms Dowling also pledged that cases going through the PIAB would take a maximum of nine months.

In an attack on the current system, she observed that claimants in Ireland wait six times longer than those in England for negotiations to even start. On top of that, 42% of the value of compensation awarded goes on legal fees, she added.

The board was set up to cut legal costs and to reduce the time it takes to finalise a compensation claim. Its role is to provide an independent assessment of compensation in cases when liability is not contested.