Personal Injury

cabhru

I tripped on an item in a supermarket recently and hurt myself quite badly and I have medical records and pictures showing this. I had to go to hospital at the time of the incident and a GP afterwards for related issues. The cause of my trip is clearly the fault of the supermarket which one of the managers of the supermarket admitted to at the time of the incident. I would prefer not to go into more specific detail than that as I don't think it is required as my questions are of a more general nature.

Basically I am considering contacting a solicitor to see if I can submit a personal injury claim.

(1) In a situation where a customer of a supermarket is injured by the negligence of that supermarket and that supermarket admits they were negligent and are liable what is the process for agreeing on a settlement generally?

(2) Do solicitors still work on a no win no fee basis and if so what would be a fair way to calculate the fee to be paid to a solicitor? If they do not work on a no win no fee basis what would be the most common way that they are remunerated for their service in a situation where their client 'wins'?

(3) What other costs are involved (other than medical expenses) and who pays for these?

(4) Are settlements received not subject to income tax?

Thank you in advance.

coylemj

I don't for one second believe that a store manager admitted liability. Which makes the rest of your first post highly suspect.

cabhru

I won't be going into more detail unless necessary to address my questions. While I was in the hospital a family member made a phone call to the store on the day of the incident where the cause of the accident was disclosed by the store manager who was at the incident themselves and was the person who assisted me to their office to stop the bleeding and called for an ambulance. I hope that is is sufficient and that the thread will not be derailed as a result of the post made by coylemj.

FluidProfessor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058211605/personal-injury

(1) Can you prove that the supermarket manager admitted that the cause of your trip is clearly the fault of the supermarket?

(2) Yes, solicitors still work on a no win no fee basis over the Personal Injury area. If you win, your solicitor will get paid a remuneration equal of a hourly rate x how many hours he worked at your case.

(3) You - medical records, physio etc.

(4) I think (I'm not sure) it is tax free

3DataModem

(1) Don't count on someone's admission of liability as a slam-dunk. Whoever it is is not an expert. Their insurer will deal with you, or more likely your solicitor. They may make an offer. Bear in mind that if you are claiming ongoing impairment, and they don't necessarily believe you, the insurer will happily spend a couple of hundred euro on hiring a PI to snap a photo of you loading a sofa into your house, or playing golf, or whatever.

(2) Yes. But the fee will be high.

(3) You pay all costs, and hope the other party reimbourses you.

(4) Generally tax free.

Are you visual impaired? Can't see where you are going? On Facebook?

cabhru

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117974530#Comment_117974530

(1) Not yet. I have booked an appointment with a solicitor so they may look to get this on the record by interviewing this manager and reading the incident reports that the staff wrote.

(2) I'm not expecting a major payout so the size of the solicitor fees would be a concern. Would you have any advice on this before I speak to the solicitor? The solicitor I am going to would be one of a small number in a countryside town so they would be competitive on rates.

cabhru

Do you know if all personal injury claims must go through the PIAB or can the claimants solicitor negotiate directly with the supermarket/their insurer to achieve a quick settlement? What would be the breakdown of each roughly if any of you are solicitors who deal with personal injury claims?

El Gato De Negocios

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117975537#Comment_117975537

There is no such thing as a quick settlement when it comes to solicitors and PI claims tbh. Information released by the working group for insurance reform iirc have shown that for cases handled by solicitors vs cases handled by PIAB, the amount of compensation for litigated claimants is more or less the same (maybe a couple of 100 more for litigated cases on average) as claims via PIAB. The only difference is that the average settlement claim takes twice as long for litigated cases. Its in a solicitors best interests to keep cases open as long as possible because the longer they go, the higher the fees they can charge. If you want to get sorted in a timely fashion then Id suggest contacting PIAB, completing the relevant forms and letting them assess.

fitsbits

Do yourself a favour and make the claim yourself with PIAB as it seems a very straightforward case. There should be video evidence. No solicitor necessary but you can hire one and they will take about 1500 from your claim award if any. This is separate to any further costs if not settled with PIAB.