Warnings over possible delays in settling some personal injury claims due to new law

People due to receive a compensation payment for personal injury could face a delay in receiving the money due to a law coming into force today.

Under an existing system, anyone receiving compensation for a personal injury matter faced having the amount of any illness-related social welfare payments deducted from the compensation amount.

However, legislation now in place ensures the amount of payments due will have to be repaid to the Department of Social Protection by the compensator — typically a defendant’s insurance company.

According to the Department of Social Protection, the principle of the law is that nobody should be compensated twice.

Barrister Doireann O’Mahony said the laws could reduce the number of spur-of-the-moment settlement talks.

Writing in today’s Irish Examiner, Ms O’Mahony, based in Cork, said: “Not only will it will serve to add to the workload of defendant solicitors but, quite worryingly, it will cause delays in injured persons receiving the compensation to which they are entitled.”

The laws were due to come into force in May but were delayed.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton published the statutory instrument giving force to the act last month.

Once it is implemented, all compensators will be required to obtain a recoverable benefits certificate from the department prior to settling any personal injury claim.

Ms O’Mahony said: “The refund to the department will be separate and distinct from the settlement figure agreed with the plaintiff. No case can be settled without a certificate having first been obtained. This may well result in spur-of-the-moment settlement talks becoming a thing of the past and the ‘all-in settlement’ [where legal costs are included in the compensation figure] being consigned to history.”

Last October, during a Dáil debate on the proposals, MS Burton said: “The department will claim from compensators — who would normally be insurance companies — that portion of the claim which relates to the Department paying somebody various kinds of benefit such as illness or injury benefit.

“This is a standard practice among social security agencies in the rest of Europe.”