Bid to curb double compensation

INSURANCE payouts, sick pay and social welfare payments should be deducted from cash settlements awarded in personal injuries cases to ensure people are not compensated twice, legal experts said yesterday.

Recommendations published yesterday by the Law Reform Commission urge changes in legislation so a person who claims damages for personal injuries does not receive double compensation for the injury. The commission was asked by the Attorney General in 2000 to examine section two of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act for ways to clamp down on duplicate compensation payouts.

Section two deals with the payments that a victim of personal injuries may receive, such as insurance payments, pension payments, once-off gratuities paid by an employer to help tide an employee over during their recovery and other such payments, known as collateral benefits.