Personal Injury Claim Question

BattleCorp

Hi Folks,

General question with no specifics so not seeing legal advice.

I know that if an employee suffers an injury at work, they have two years from the date of the injury to submit a claim.

My question is what determines that a claim has been submitted within those two years? Is it the date that the injured party's solicitor writes to the employer to inform them of their client's intention to see damages for an injury received or is it when a formal application is made to the Injuries Board or to the Courts?

Is a case statute barred if only a solicitor's letter has been sent but no other proceedings were issued in those two years?

hullaballoo

A solicitor's letter, or notification of claim, has no bearing on the statute.

In simple terms, there are two steps to submitting a claim that stops the clock on the statute. Firstly, submitting the claim to PIAB. Once formally accepted by PIAB as a complete application (including a properly filled out form naming the correct bodies and their addresses, the medical report and the fee). Once accepted by PIAB, the statute is paused for as long as it takes PIAB to process the claim plus a period of six months from the date of their authorisation.

In cases where PIAB's assessment is declined by any party, the plaintiff can choose to issue proceedings, which must be done within two years of the date of the incident that caused the injury, plus the time allowed under the PIAB process (their processing plus six months.)