Personal Injury

Borderfox

Just checking, my girfriend was in an RTA just over two years ago and had a whiplash injury and is still receiving treatment for the injury but from the PIAB website and a Solicitor's advice all she has is two years to file the case, is there any extenuating circumstances to extend this time? Solicitor is trying to find out but if anybody has heard/done it any advice would be great

Keith

McCrack

9.9/10 times a personal injury action needs to be started within two years from the date of injury, otherwise it becomes statute-barred.

The exceptions are very limited, the solicitor your girlfriend instructed will advise (after consulting medical experts) whether she can avail of the discoverability test.

Borderfox

Many thanks

nuac

Border fox, I am wondering why your gf did not see a solicitor or lodge a PIAB claim herself within the last two years?

Whiplash can last years, but normally shows itself reasonably soon after the accident.

Borderfox

nuac wrote: »

Border fox, I am wondering why your gf did not see a solicitor or lodge a PIAB claim herself within the last two years?

Whiplash can last years, but normally shows itself reasonably soon after the accident.

I think she was trying to gauge the severity of it, she still has it quite bad.

dermot_sheehan

Statute doesn't run if there is fraud or concealment on the part of defendants (doesn't seem to be case here), or for personal injuries its two years from the date on which the plaintiff was aware of the injury or ought to have been aware of it.

nuac

Border fox, and in that two years she did not see a doctor or a solicitor about this?

from my experience of many plaintiffs find this hard to believe.

drkpower

nuac wrote: »

Border fox, and in that two years she did not see a doctor or a solicitor about this?

from my experience of many plaintiffs find this hard to believe.

Thats a little harsh on the public at large:P.

The OP hasnt mentioned whether the gf saw a doc or not; nor how the RTA happened (ie. it may not be so obvious that anyone else is to blame). From my experience of people, rather than Plaintiffs, the last thing most would do is take claim unless there was obvious faullt on one side and they had quite a significant injury. I would wager that she did see a doc, who advised her it would probably settle down with time, but now it appears it is not, she is re-visiting the legal question.

McCrack

drkpower wrote: »

Thats a little harsh on the public at large:P.

The OP hasnt mentioned whether the gf saw a doc or not; nor how the RTA happened (ie. it may not be so obvious that anyone else is to blame). From my experience of people, rather than Plaintiffs, the last thing most would do is take claim unless there was obvious faullt on one side and they had quite a significant injury. I would wager that she did see a doc, who advised her it would probably settle down with time, but now it appears it is not, she is re-visiting the legal question.

I once worked in a practice in a particular part of Dublin inner city where it was quite the opposite in fact!!

nuac

My own experience same as McCrack's. Some people see a solicitor before they see a doctor.

Some call to a number of solicitors if the initial advice they get on liablity isn't welcome.

Interesting case recently before Judge Hedigan - Harte v HSE and others where plaintiff deferred proceedings in an MRSA case because she was waiting for an experts report. Expert report held up because of delay by one of the hospitals in supplying information expert required to complete his report. Judge refused to extend the time, stating proceedings should have been issued within the two years, that they did not have to be served for 12 months thus giving time to get and assess experts report.

dats_right

drkpower wrote: »

The OP hasnt mentioned whether the gf saw a doc or not; nor how the RTA happened (ie. it may not be so obvious that anyone else is to blame). From my experience of people, rather than Plaintiffs, the last thing most would do is take claim unless there was obvious faullt on one side and they had quite a significant injury. I would wager that she did see a doc, who advised her it would probably settle down with time, but now it appears it is not, she is re-visiting the legal question.

In a simple car accident case such as this the time limit is pretty much set in stone as two years from date of accrual of the cause of action i.e. date of the accident. It is highly unlikely that 'date of knowledge', etc. have any application whatsoever in a case such as this. Any such claimant bringing proceedings after the two year time limit is virtually certainly statute barred. But it is vitally important that one seeks professional legal advice on the matter.

In addition, another hurdle for the plaintiff in PI cases arises under section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004, which provides that the plaintiff in a personal injuries action is required to serve a Letter of Claim upon the defendant within two months of cause of action. Failing to do so is now being increasingly relied upon by insurance companies as the consequences of such a failure to serve can lead to a Court drawing such inferences as appear proper and possibly also having cost implications (even if succesful).

stoblerone

Very hard to prove fraud etc.

The Defence will be shouting at the top of their voices, "Statute Barred".
PIAB says; How long do I have to make a Claim?

"The normal timeframe within which you must make a claim is limited by law to two years from the date of the accident. There are exceptions to this for persons under 18 years of age and some other categories of cases. You are advised to submit your completed Application to InjuriesBoard.ie as soon as possible and well before the expiry of the two year period.

It's harsh but if something like that ever happens again, jump on it asap, because it is the soft tissue injuries can actually be the worst thing to deal with physically and financially, in the sense that they tend to linger on and on and on...

And don't forget, in the case of claims for nervous shock arising from, say, a car accident, PIAB prob won't deal with it. Your solicitor should tell u all you need to know. And don't forget the free legal advises provided by the Citizen Information Centre.

Hope it works out for you,:o