State body paid out €380m in claims in 2017

Liam McPoyle

Some interesting reading in todays Sindo.

There has been a surge in claims made against State bodies, with legal costs adding hugely to the cost of settling them.

New figures show that €380m was paid out last year by the State Claims Agency, the Government body that handles claims made against the gardagovernment departments and schools.

This is up 232pc since 2010, according to figures obtained by Fianna F finance spokesman Michael McGrath.

Some €80m of the cost of was accounted for by legal costs. Legal costs include medical and other expert expenses, as well as lawyer fees.

However, the figures exclude the cost of claims against local authorities, which tend to be high.

Mr McGrath calculated that since 2010 the State has now paid out €1.7bn in personal injuries claims.

“The number of personal injury claims against State bodies that fall under the State Claims Agency amounted to just under 4,400 in 2017.

“This is a 132pc increase from 2010. The Government really need to get a handle on this and ascertain exactly what is driving the increase in the number of claims,” he said.

He said there has been huge inflation in the cost of claims also.

“Last week it emerged, from parliamentary questions I submitted, that personal injury claims surpassed €300m for the first time in 2017. When the cost of legal fees is included, the true cost is over €380m.”

He said that based on data he has received that it is clear that the healthcare sector is the key driver of the claims.


But An Garda Sh, the Defence Forces and the Irish Prison Service are also large contributors to the overall number of claims and the cost of those claims.

“What really alarms me is that this figure only tells part of the story. There are key areas of the wider public service not under the remit of the State Claims Agency,” Mr McGrath said.

He added that it was not clear how much local authorities are paying out for personal claims.

And there was also a lack of clarity about the State enterprise sector, such as companies like CIE.

The escalating costs have an impact on the services provided to the public.

Delegated State agencies must pay money into the State Claims Agency to keep it afloat and if the personal injury claims continue to rise, we will see more and more money having to be pumped in, Mr McGrath pointed out.

“While claimants need to be paid the appropriate compensation for the damage caused, the Government needs to get to grips with the situation. The figure cannot be permitted to increase at the current rate without a response from the Government,” said Deputy McGrath.

Source

So a 232% increase in claims payments and a 132% increase in claims made since 2010. Its not difficult to imagine that these level of increases could be extrapolated out to encompass claims and injuries that are left at the door of insurance companies.

The fact that €80 million of these costs were paid to the legal system is pretty telling as well.

People can use the argument that claimants going directly through an insurance company need legal representation in order to protect them from the big bad cartel but when it comes to claiming from the state, thats what the injuries board should be used for.

Its profiteering by solicitors and nothing more.



Judges should be trained in assessing damages in personal injuries cases, Government report recommends.

Source.

JUDGES should get training on how to assess damages in personal injuries cases, a new Government report on the cost of insurance recommends.

It comes as festivals and businesses say they are threatened with shut-downs over the soaring cost of cover.

The latest Cost of Insurance Working Report also found a tiny number of prosecutions for perjury here, despite a large number of fraudulent claims.

But it stopped short of calling for a new statutory law on perjury.

The latest report follows on from last year’s one on motor cover and concentrates on public liability and employer liability cover, which is needed by businesses, schools and sporting bodies.

And insurers come in for strong criticism particularly for settling claims without telling the policyholder.

Policyholders should be notified of claims against, according to the report from a group overseen by Minister for State in Finance Michael D’Arcy.

This comes as businesses have said that often the first they know about a claim is when their get a premium renewal notice that is a multiple of the previous one.

The report makes 20 recommendations, including a call for the Law Reform Commission to consider the need for a cap on personal injuries awards.

It states: "There is a significant issue in relation to the cost of personal injury awards in Ireland for some commonly occurring personal injuries, particularly those of a less severe nature."

A minor ankle injury can get an award of €54,700 in this country, compared with €12,550 in the UK.


The report states that the issue of inconsistency of awards by courts and the legal costs associated with the claims process needs to be considered further.

More training for the judiciary is called for in the report. It acknowledges that judges managed training themselves and says the upcoming Judicial Council Bill, as and when it becomes law, will further formalise the systems for judicial training.

"In the meantime the Working Group would suggest that the Minister for Justice and Equality, or his Department as appropriate, might raise in an appropriate manner with the judiciary that they would consider including specific and appropriate training or seminars in the assessment of damages in existing judicial training initiatives," the report states.

The report states that people making claims are required under law to submit a sworn affidavit in a set timeframe. They can be prosecuted under the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 if the information in the affidavit is false. But this is not happening.

There is protocol in place where suspected fraudulent claims are reported to the gardarom the courts.

The report states: "However, it appears not to have been used for quite a while."

And the report endorses the recommendation in the previous Working Group Report on Motor Insurance that there should be a fraud database.

The Alliance for Insurance Reform was disappointed with the report, saying it mainly consists of calls for more reports and analysis.

Peter Boland of the Alliance said Ireland remained a republic of opportunity for the insurance industry and the legal profession, with businesses and charities bled dry.

A cap on PI awards is a step in the right direction. Ive said it countless times, claims like soft tissue injuries or whiplash that cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt should be capped between €5000 to €8000. The common sense approach is needed where by the circumstances of the accident must be a determining factor in awards for compensation. A car tipping into another car in slow moving traffic or a shopping centre car park is not worthy of tens of thousands of euro compensation, it would be next to impossible to do any kind of damage to someone at low speeds.

Ive also said on many occasions that action needs to be taken against those found trying to deliberately defraud insurers. There have been any amount of cases reported over the last couple of years of claims just being dismissed where the claimant either engineered the claim or lied about their injuries.

If fixed penalty fines for things like this were imposed, on both the claimants and the parasites that represent them I GUARANTEE that many of them would dry up.

I'd also be in favour of a claims database but thats a much more difficult piece as there is the whole consumer protection code and data protection side of things to be ironed out.

Still, its good to see some common sense logic being applied to the whole thing.

Hopefully its not just lip service and that real changes comes from it.

At the end of the day, both insurance companies and customers will ultimately benefit from reduced claims and claims costs.

colm_mcm

Today is a Thursday though

sligojoek

colm_mcm wrote: »

Today is a Thursday though

I wouldn't believe a word out of that Sindo.

whiskeyman

I'd like to know the percentage of estimated fraud etc... in the above figures.
Prob in the governments best interests they beat that drum, instead of trying to admit to a failing healthcare system which itself is probably to blame for millions of those payouts.
Plenty of them in the news this week alone like those parents of the child that died at birth through malpractice etc...
That's the real story IMO

Aravo

Estimated fraud would be interesting alright. For accident claims instead of money, health vouchers for physio etc should be awarded. Also, claimants should be named along with the associated solicitors. This would clamp down on fraud. Every sympathy to those who have suffered, but not to fraudsters.

Ubbquittious

Didn't the government create all these laws in the first place that allow people to make claims and sue?

Victor

Business Cat wrote: »

A cap on PI awards is a step in the right direction.

So, let us say a 5-year old child is run over by a state vehicle and they lose a leg. That child will need extra care for an extended period and have their life affected for the next 80-90 years. With interest rates effectively at zero or worse and the award may not grow for an extended period, how do you expect to provide for that child?

And there was also a lack of clarity about the State enterprise sector, such as companies like CIE.

CIÉ self-insures claims up to about €300 million.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Suspected fraud, if not proven, goes down as a legitimate claim. It has to, or the skanger will get an additional payday in court for libel.

Liam McPoyle

Victor wrote: »

So, let us say a 5-year old child is run over by a state vehicle and they lose a leg. That child will need extra care for an extended period and have their life affected for the next 80-90 years. With interest rates effectively at zero or worse and the award may not grow for an extended period, how do you expect to provide for that child?

CIÉ self-insures claims up to about €300 million.

I thought it was pretty clear what I was talking about when I mentioned caps, considering I said

claims like soft tissue injuries or whiplash that cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt should be capped between €5000 to €8000.

Obviously scenarios like you mentioned or instances where an individual suffers a catastrophic brain injury cannot be capped because of the complexity of the injury.

Someone with no visible injuries and no proof other than them going to a doctor and saying they have a sore neck should be subject to a payment cap.

Liam McPoyle

colm_mcm wrote: »

Today is a Thursday though

Im from the future.

Do not be alarmed.