Personal Injuries Board and County Council

Hi all,

Recently my brother was out walking on the lane and while trying to avoid one pot hole slipped into another, fell and ended up breaking his wrist on the left and his arm on the right.

The potholes had been repaired in the last six months after partial resuficing of the by the county council the year before, for which each household on the lane had to pay in the region of 400 euro before the council would undertake the resurfacing, but the repairs to the potholes were not completed correctly or at least to such poor a standard that resulted in the holes reappearing within six months.

My question would be given that the council in my opinion any way are at fault due to the incorrect repar to the road despite numerous complaints from the residents, would the PIB be the only route that he can take or can it be bypassed and he should go to his solicitor instead given the PIB is a government body and the council also a government body?

Has anyone had any experience in such a situation?

Thanks in advance

goz83

It must go through the injuries board. Only a few types of cases are bypassed, such as medical negligence.

He can do this himself, or via a solicitor. Recommend speaking to a solicitor first.

goz83

goz83 wrote: »

It must go through the injuries board. Only a few types of cases are bypassed, such as medical negligence.

He can do this himself, or via a solicitor. Recommend speaking to a solicitor first.

Thanks for your reply.

Can I ask why recommending speaking to a solicitor first, thought the PIB was set up to avoid the need for solicitors, or am I wrong and one is needed anyway?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

goz83

DubInMeath wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Can I ask why recommending speaking to a solicitor first, thought the PIB was set up to avoid the need for solicitors, or am I wrong and one is needed anyway?

whos side do you think the injuries board is on?

Only a solicitor can advise correct levels of compensation, if indeed a case should be lodged at all.

Of course, the process can be done without a solicitor, but I would personally prefer to have a legal professional on my side, especially if liability is denied, which it probably will be, which is when a case can be referred to court.

esforum

DubInMeath wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Can I ask why recommending speaking to a solicitor first, thought the PIB was set up to avoid the need for solicitors, or am I wrong and one is needed anyway?

the government and councils wont settle within the board so in the end a solicitor will be needed anyway.

Stupid I know, government agency that the other government agencies wont deal with :rolleyes:

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

hullaballoo

Say PIAB come back with an assessment of €5,000 for the injuries, how does your brother gauge whether that's a fair amount or that he's being sold short and would do better on a bad day in court?

What if they come back with €20,000 but your brother's symptoms haven't resolved fully and ends up needing further surgery?

A solicitor preempts issues such as the above and should be well-versed in the amounts payable for injuries, taking the whole picture into account. PIAB use a book with values beside broken bones that was written over a decade ago.

Thanks all for the replies so far.

I expect that liability would be denied by the council, doesn't take a genius to guess that :-)

But thought a solicitor would be required when this was the case and moving to a court situation, butnot before hand hence my question.

I'll discuss it with him and decide but if anyone has any personal experience of this type of case I'd appreciate their input.

goz83

I don't have experience in this type of case, but as someone who is currently in the middle of a PI case (road traffic accident), which went to the IB and was subsequently passed back for the courts, I can say that having a solicitor on board has taken much of the hassle out of navigating the claim and the solicitor is up to daye from the beginning.

Between the IB fee and having a medical report drawn up, it will cost circa €300 to get the ball rolling. These things can go on for years though. So, your brother would want to be sure he wants to sue. If alcohol was a factor, it could certainly weaken any claim made.

Atlantic Dawn

Who owns the road, why would residents pay the council to fix the councils road? Owners of the road will be liable and council possibly for bad repairs.

goz83

goz83 wrote: »

If alcohol was a factor, it could certainly weaken any claim made.

Nope he doesn't drink, a rare one I admit but he's big into his sport do its one of the reasons he doesn't, plus happened at midday on a Wednesday so if he was it would be noted by the doctor when I brought him an hour later and he woud have been even longer in Naven A&E before being told that they thought he had a break and given a letter to go to Drougheda in two days time to have it confirmed and treated.

Atlantic Dawn
It's a public road, but a small lane so not privately owned. As to the residents paying Meath county council for repairs to be done, basically the council stated that they didn't have the funds to pay for all of the repairs and would only do so if the residents forked over some of the costs.
He personally complained about this at the time to members of the local concil.

Was told by FF member not to pay for repairs as this was a common factor in Meath in relation to the local roads and he was trying to have it ended.

Was told by the Labour member not to pay, but that Meath county council receive/spend a large sum for roads each year that nearly all goes to the M3.

Was told by the FG councillor who unknown to him at the time was spear heading this repair job that the council hardly received any money for roads from central government and if he didn't want to be completely stranded that he should pay as if the community didn't do so by x date the funds would go to another locality where the residents were willing to pay.

Having just moved onto the lane a month he had some neighbours that refused to pay and others who were willing to pay and kept calling up to the house annoying his wife about the situation, so for peace and prevent damage to his car he paid up. Strangely after paying the same neighbours who were annoying his wife haven't shown up since, but the ones who didn't pay are always there to lend a hand if needed :-)

esforum

DubInMeath wrote: »

Thanks all for the replies so far.

I expect that liability would be denied by the council, doesn't take a genius to guess that :-)

But thought a solicitor would be required when this was the case and moving to a court situation, butnot before hand hence my question.

I'll discuss it with him and decide but if anyone has any personal experience of this type of case I'd appreciate their input.

I do and I can tell you that the cost for the solicitor is best spent at the start, the injuries board doesnt take all the work out of a claim and if you have no experience of the system, its messy and the mmistakes could bite you and your solciitor in the ass come court time.

Shop around, get prices and pick a solicitor but avoid ones that charge based on the claim amount.

Pat Mustard

DubInMeath wrote: »

But thought a solicitor would be required when this was the case and moving to a court situation, butnot before hand hence my question.

Laymen can sometimes identify the correct respondent(s), adequately set out their own claims and achieve appropriate compensation in respect of their injury claims.

Very often, they don't. Very often, they cannot identify respondents correctly, they don't set out their claims properly and they often get lowballed by insurance companies.

If an Injuries Board authorisation has been got against the wrong respondent, there may not be enough time to resolve matters adequately, prior to the statutory period of limitation running out, meaning that any subsequent litigation will be unlikely succeed.

In other words, it's better to go a solicitor on day one, to get this work done professionally.

Thanks all for the advice.

He's starting to call around local solicitors as he can't drive for obvious reasons and I'll have to take time off work to ferry him around.

To my limited knowledge there is no provision for no win no fee in Ireland, I of course would stand corrected by anyone with better knowledge. Personally wouldn't go with one as I just have a bad feeling about them based on UK ads for same.

* In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any settlement.

But google returns plenty of no win no fee apparently based in Ireland.

As said call around and look for a written estimate of the fees I think would be what e should do

goz83

DubInMeath wrote: »

Thanks all for the advice.

He's starting to call around local solicitors as he can't drive for obvious reasons and I'll have to take time off work to ferry him around.

To my limited knowledge there is no provision for no win no fee in Ireland, I of course would stand corrected by anyone with better knowledge. Personally wouldn't go with one as I just have a bad feeling about them based on UK ads for same.

* In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any settlement.

But google returns plenty of no win no fee apparently based in Ireland.

As said call around and look for a written estimate of the fees I think would be what e should do

Many solicitors offer a no win no fee. My solicitor does and I am quite happy with it. So, stand corrected

Although, a different arrangement usually comes into play if going to court.

Pro Hoc Vice

DubInMeath wrote: »

Thanks all for the advice.

He's starting to call around local solicitors as he can't drive for obvious reasons and I'll have to take time off work to ferry him around.

To my limited knowledge there is no provision for no win no fee in Ireland, I of course would stand corrected by anyone with better knowledge. Personally wouldn't go with one as I just have a bad feeling about them based on UK ads for same.

* In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any settlement.

But google returns plenty of no win no fee apparently based in Ireland.

As said call around and look for a written estimate of the fees I think would be what e should do

You are mistaking two issues a solicitor can not calculate a fee based on the amount of the award. But a solicitor is free to offer to only collect his fees should the client win, as the fee will in large part be paid by the other side

Thanks for clarifying, I was reading the law society's website which would indicate they can't advertise no win no fee

goz83

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

You are mistaking two issues a solicitor can not calculate a fee based on the amount of the award. But a solicitor is free to offer to only collect his fees should the client win, as the fee will in large part be paid by the other side

True in the case of it going to court, but in the event the IB is as far as it goes, the solicitor fees are paid directly from the settlement, which do not include solicitors fees as a compensable expense (totally unfair imo).

An average rate for a solicitor would be around €1500 if settled via the IB.