personal injuries board inquiry......

micky007 · 13-09-2011 08:16PM #1

Hello
My wife was in a car accident at the start of the year,she was hit from behind and the other driver looking everywhere but in front of him.she still to this day has problems with her neck/back and on alot of medication.since the accident she is having severe anxiety and suffering depression.
I went to a solicitor a few months ago and he told me about PIB.The solicitor says wait to see how she is getting on and then lodge her case with the PIB.but what i have read on line,they dont deal with complex cases and they never mension stress/depression.????????????
will she have to wait until the solicitor lodges the case and then after 9months to be told they cant deal with it and let it go to court???????????
does anyone have any experience with the PIB??how long after they lodge the claim they hear back from them.?????????????????
Thanks for any advice...

MagicSean · 13-09-2011 10:51PM

Check out injuriesboard.ie. There is also a representative that sometimes posts on the forum.

Esoteric_ · 13-09-2011 11:25PM

Injuries Board are brilliant, in my experience. I had an accident and the way I was treated after the accident (I knew the people involved) combined with the injury itself, led to my anti-depressants being doubled and I was extremely stressed and depressed. This was all taken into account.

What you need to do is go to injuriesboard.ie. There, you can fill out the form and send it off to them with payment of 45 euro. They'll send you back a letter containing the medical forms for your doctor to fill (most GPs charge in the region of 250 for this) and forms for yourself to fill.

I always found them extremely fast at getting back to me, and very helpful, too. My case was settled within 3 months of sending my first letter to the Injuries Board and the mental health effects (depression, stress) were taken into account as they were exacerbated by the physical injuries.

MagicSean · 13-09-2011 11:33PM

How long did you wait before sending in the form? Do you wait til you finish treatment or just until you get the diagnosis?

youtube! · 13-09-2011 11:44PM

Getting compensation for feeling depressed after an accident doesnt seem justified to me, if you have whiplash or a broken leg or whatever then fair enough but surely anyone can get depressed for other reasons not related to an accident, compensation culture is so overboard in this great little country of ours...

injuriesboard · 14-09-2011 11:39AM

Hi micky007,

I'm sorry to hear about your wifes accident.

InjuriesBoard.ie (previously called the Personal Injuries Assessment Board / PIAB) was established in 2004 and is the independent statutory body that assesses all claims for compensation resulting from personal injuries suffered in workplace, motor and public place accidents. Claims of this nature must be submitted to the Injuries Board.

Our process is quite straightforward and by law we have specific timelines for each portion of our process.

Your wife can come to the Board directly or use an solicitor to assist with her claim.

We have a number of sections on our website (www.injuriesboard.ie) that might be useful. A video outlining our process can be found here as well as our Making a Claim Section and our FAQ section.
Our Service Centre is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday on LoCall 1890 829 121.

In brief our process works as follows:
Once all the documentation has been received by InjuriesBoard.ie (application, medical from treating doctor(s) and €45 fee) the Board contacts the person the claimant is holding responsible. In motor liability cases this is normally an insurance company (the Respondant).
The Respondant has 90 days to decide if they are happy for InjuriesBoard.ie to make an assessment.
If the Respondant consents to the assessment the Board makes its assessment within 9 months of receiving the consent.
InjuriesBoard.ie then issuess a Letter of Assessment to the parties. This gives the details of the Award.
The Claimant has 28 days to decide if they want to accept and the Respondent has 21 days to decide if they want to accept.

In some instances the claim might be released by the Board and a document called an Authorisation is issued by the Board. This document enables the Claimant to continue with the claim in the Court System. For example, this might happen if the Respondent doesn't want to Board to make the Assessment or if one or both parties reject the Boards assessment.

If a Claimant is asked to attend one of the InjuriesBoard.ie panel medical practitioners the specilisation of that doctor will depend on the nature of your injury e.g. orthapedic, emergency medicine, neurologist, psychologist etc.
This means that we have the capacity to assess the damages for the majority of injuries and can assess multiple injuries.

When our assessors are making an Assessment, they review all of the medical evidence submitted and have regard to the Book of Quantum (which, by law, must also be used by the Courts).

I hope you find this information helpful.

micky007 · 14-09-2011 03:26PM

Thanks for all your help.
99.9% of people would prefare if accidents never happened.i wish my wife of 35years was the woman she was before the accident,now she more or less crippled and afraid to go anywere in the car.been depressed and afraid to go in cars is no joke.the mind can leave us trapped+very afraid and from the out-side they might put a brave face on........but inside they are going through hell..

McCrack · 14-09-2011 08:49PM

injuriesboard wrote: »

Hi micky007,

I'm sorry to hear about your wifes accident.

InjuriesBoard.ie (previously called the Personal Injuries Assessment Board / PIAB) was established in 2004 and is the independent statutory body that assesses all claims for compensation resulting from personal injuries suffered in workplace, motor and public place accidents. Claims of this nature must be submitted to the Injuries Board.

Our process is quite straightforward and by law we have specific timelines for each portion of our process.

Your wife can come to the Board directly or use an solicitor to assist with her claim.

We have a number of sections on our website (www.injuriesboard.ie) that might be useful. A video outlining our process can be found here as well as our Making a Claim Section and our FAQ section.
Our Service Centre is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday on LoCall 1890 829 121.

In brief our process works as follows:
Once all the documentation has been received by InjuriesBoard.ie (application, medical from treating doctor(s) and €45 fee) the Board contacts the person the claimant is holding responsible. In motor liability cases this is normally an insurance company (the Respondant).
The Respondant has 90 days to decide if they are happy for InjuriesBoard.ie to make an assessment.
If the Respondant consents to the assessment the Board makes its assessment within 9 months of receiving the consent.
InjuriesBoard.ie then issuess a Letter of Assessment to the parties. This gives the details of the Award.
The Claimant has 28 days to decide if they want to accept and the Respondent has 21 days to decide if they want to accept.

In some instances the claim might be released by the Board and a document called an Authorisation is issued by the Board. This document enables the Claimant to continue with the claim in the Court System. For example, this might happen if the Respondent doesn't want to Board to make the Assessment or if one or both parties reject the Boards assessment.

If a Claimant is asked to attend one of the InjuriesBoard.ie panel medical practitioners the specilisation of that doctor will depend on the nature of your injury e.g. orthapedic, emergency medicine, neurologist, psychologist etc.
This means that we have the capacity to assess the damages for the majority of injuries and can assess multiple injuries.

When our assessors are making an Assessment, they review all of the medical evidence submitted and have regard to the Book of Quantum (which, by law, must also be used by the Courts).

I hope you find this information helpful.

That's all lovely and happy clappy stuff but to call a spade a spade the Injuries Board is a pawn of the insurance industry, set up by the government bowing to vested interest pressure. It's fundamentally biased against the injured party.

If the injured party doesn't submit €45 with his/her application it gets rejected. If the Respondent (bad guy) ignores the Injuries Board the Board will go ahead anyway and assess by default, i.e take it upon themselves to assess and delay matters when the bad guy has no intention of paying.

Bad guys use it to delay the injured parties claim by up to a year (90 days to decide and 9 months to assess)

PIAB (A) Act 2007, solicitor/client fee no longer recoverable. In other words an injured party has to pay his legal fee for a solicitor acting on his behalf and the bad guy doesn't which is normal in litigation ie. person at fault pays.

And lets just be clear on this, most injured people have zero experience of the Injuries Board, method and tactics, and the bad guy 9/10 has an insurance company indemnifying him with all the knowledge and experience that an insurance company has in defending/settling claims.

In my experience claimants get a fairer award through the civil courts, I have yet to see settlement/award lower than an Injuries Board Assessment.

Injuries Board I'd be interested to hear your comments on the above.

McCrack · 14-09-2011 08:57PM

micky007 wrote: »

Thanks for all your help.
99.9% of people would prefare if accidents never happened.i wish my wife of 35years was the woman she was before the accident,now she more or less crippled and afraid to go anywere in the car.been depressed and afraid to go in cars is no joke.the mind can leave us trapped+very afraid and from the out-side they might put a brave face on........but inside they are going through hell..

Your wife is symptomatic, it would be a folly to rush settlement with the Injuries Board (presuming the person who crashed into her consents to them doing so (which in reality is his/her insurance company), she is best advised to consult with an independent expert that is a personal injury solicitor.

naughto · 14-09-2011 09:08PM

McCrack wrote: »

That's all lovely and happy clappy stuff but to call a spade a spade the Injuries Board is a pawn of the insurance industry, set up by the government bowing to vested interest pressure. It's fundamentally biased against the injured party.

If the injured party doesn't submit €45 with his/her application it gets rejected. If the Respondent (bad guy) ignores the Injuries Board the Board will go ahead anyway and assess by default, i.e take it upon themselves to assess and delay matters when the bad guy has no intention of paying.

Bad guys use it to delay the injured parties claim by up to a year (90 days to decide and 9 months to assess)

PIAB (A) Act 2007, solicitor/client fee no longer recoverable. In other words an injured party has to pay his legal fee for a solicitor acting on his behalf and the bad guy doesn't which is normal in litigation ie. person at fault pays.

And lets just be clear on this, most injured people have zero experience of the Injuries Board, method and tactics, and the bad guy 9/10 has an insurance company indemnifying him with all the knowledge and experience that an insurance company has in defending/settling claims.

In my experience claimants get a fairer award through the civil courts, I have yet to see settlement/award lower than an Injuries Board Assessment.

Injuries Board I'd be interested to hear your comments on the above.

i too would like to hear what the Injuries Board rep has to say to above comment

micky007 · 14-09-2011 10:11PM

GOSH..So if my wife used a solicitor for her case,god only knows what she would be charged...
But on the other hand a solicitor will know the crac+get the best deal??

McCrack · 14-09-2011 10:24PM

Your wife is best advised to seek expert independent legal advice.

Or of course she can go alone but you know what they say about having a fool for a client...

drkpower · 14-09-2011 11:34PM

McCrack wrote: »

That's all lovely and happy clappy stuff but to call a spade a spade the Injuries Board is a pawn of the insurance industry, set up by the government bowing to vested interest pressure. It's fundamentally biased against the injured party.

If the injured party doesn't submit €45 with his/her application it gets rejected. If the Respondent (bad guy) ignores the Injuries Board the Board will go ahead anyway and assess by default, i.e take it upon themselves to assess and delay matters when the bad guy has no intention of paying.

Bad guys use it to delay the injured parties claim by up to a year (90 days to decide and 9 months to assess)

PIAB (A) Act 2007, solicitor/client fee no longer recoverable. In other words an injured party has to pay his legal fee for a solicitor acting on his behalf and the bad guy doesn't which is normal in litigation ie. person at fault pays.

And lets just be clear on this, most injured people have zero experience of the Injuries Board, method and tactics, and the bad guy 9/10 has an insurance company indemnifying him with all the knowledge and experience that an insurance company has in defending/settling claims.

In my experience claimants get a fairer award through the civil courts, I have yet to see settlement/award lower than an Injuries Board Assessment.

Injuries Board I'd be interested to hear your comments on the above.

Lol!
You dont help your argument by references to bad guys (vs. presumably good guys) ...... Reality isnt always so simple.

Doinker · 14-09-2011 11:47PM

McCrack wrote: »

That's all lovely and happy clappy stuff but to call a spade a spade the Injuries Board is a pawn of the insurance industry, set up by the government bowing to vested interest pressure. It's fundamentally biased against the injured party.

If the injured party doesn't submit €45 with his/her application it gets rejected. If the Respondent (bad guy) ignores the Injuries Board the Board will go ahead anyway and assess by default, i.e take it upon themselves to assess and delay matters when the bad guy has no intention of paying.

Bad guys use it to delay the injured parties claim by up to a year (90 days to decide and 9 months to assess)

PIAB (A) Act 2007, solicitor/client fee no longer recoverable. In other words an injured party has to pay his legal fee for a solicitor acting on his behalf and the bad guy doesn't which is normal in litigation ie. person at fault pays.

And lets just be clear on this, most injured people have zero experience of the Injuries Board, method and tactics, and the bad guy 9/10 has an insurance company indemnifying him with all the knowledge and experience that an insurance company has in defending/settling claims.

In my experience claimants get a fairer award through the civil courts, I have yet to see settlement/award lower than an Injuries Board Assessment.

Injuries Board I'd be interested to hear your comments on the above.

You don't happen to be a solicitor by any chance?

Victor · 15-09-2011 12:38AM

youtube! wrote: »

Getting compensation for feeling depressed after an accident doesnt seem justified to me, if you have whiplash or a broken leg or whatever then fair enough but surely anyone can get depressed for other reasons not related to an accident, compensation culture is so overboard in this great little country of ours...

And anyone could break a leg, at any time. Why should they get compensation?

With a broken leg, you might be able to get about again after 2-3 months. With post traumatic stress disorder your condition may not be obvious for 3 months and may take years to resolve. You may suffer anxiety, stress and depression. You may be prone to outbursts that may of may not be violent. You may over react or not react at all.

You income and personal life may be severely affected.

There but for the grace of God, go you (but not me).

MagicSean · 15-09-2011 09:16AM

I have to disagree with mccrack. The injuries board helps to speed things up and offer fairer compensation deals. You might get a much bigger claim in the civil courts but that doesn't make it fairer. It's also very unlikely that a civil case would have been anywhere near completed in the time it takes the injuries board to do it's thing.

McCrack · 15-09-2011 11:36AM

drkpower wrote: »

Lol!
You dont help your argument by references to bad guys (vs. presumably good guys) ...... Reality isnt always so simple.

I could have used correct terminology but I was trying to simplify it for non-legal people reading.

McCrack · 15-09-2011 11:38AM

Doinker wrote: »

You don't happen to be a solicitor by any chance?

Well I don't have vested anti-claimant interests (Injuries Board and insurance industry)

McCrack · 15-09-2011 11:42AM

Seanbeag1 wrote: »

I have to disagree with mccrack. The injuries board helps to speed things up and offer fairer compensation deals. You might get a much bigger claim in the civil courts but that doesn't make it fairer. It's also very unlikely that a civil case would have been anywhere near completed in the time it takes the injuries board to do it's thing.

That very much at odds with my experience. Settlement/civil courts award a plaintiff what is fair, in my experience the Injuries Board assessment has never matched or beaten that.

Personal Injury claims should not be rushed, more often than not injured people are symptomatic and remain to for quite some time post injury.

MagicSean · 15-09-2011 12:38PM

McCrack wrote: »

That very much at odds with my experience. Settlement/civil courts award a plaintiff what is fair, in my experience the Injuries Board assessment has never matched or beaten that.

Personal Injury claims should not be rushed, more often than not injured people are symptomatic and remain to for quite some time post injury.

It depends on your definition of fair. To me the term means payment of medical expenses (past and future) plus a small amount for suffering.

markesmith · 15-09-2011 01:25PM

OP, sorry to hear about your wife's troubles.

If I was you I would give a solicitor a call in regard to this. A solicitor will give you the answers you need.

I've referred another user to this article on the PIAB, which sums it up fairly simply. No connection with the solicitor, I just saw it as a fair summation of what the PIAB's role is in all this.

youtube! · 15-09-2011 01:33PM

Victor wrote: »

And anyone could break a leg, at any time. Why should they get compensation?

With a broken leg, you might be able to get about again after 2-3 months. With post traumatic stress disorder your condition may not be obvious for 3 months and may take years to resolve. You may suffer anxiety, stress and depression. You may be prone to outbursts that may of may not be violent. You may over react or not react at all.

You income and personal life may be severely affected.

There but for the grace of God, go you (but not me).

But this lady was hit from behind in a car and got whiplash,its not like she was a soldier in the vietman war for gods sake! It is simply one of those things that can be greatly exaggerated for the purpose of a bigger payout, do you not agree we have a huge problem in the insurance industry (along with every other area in Irish society it seems) with massive ovepayments?
It is no wonder we are in so much deep water, in the UK the scale of payments for these kind of accidents is nowhere near as much and I doubt they would even entertain a claim for PTSD in such a minor accident, sounds like a crock to me.

ResearchWill · 15-09-2011 01:40PM

youtube! wrote: »

But this lady was hit from behind in a car and got whiplash,its not like she was a soldier in the vietman war for gods sake! It is simply one of those things that can be greatly exaggerated for the purpose of a bigger payout, do you not agree we have a huge problem in the insurance industry (along with every other area in Irish society it seems) with massive ovepayments?
It is no wonder we are in so much deep water, in the UK the scale of payments for these kind of accidents is nowhere near as much and I doubt they would even entertain a claim in such a minor accident, sounds like a crock to me.

I remember talking to a claims person in an insurance company recently, had exactly the same view as you about whiplash injuries, until his wife was in an accident, and he saw on a daily basis the pain she went through.

Doinker · 15-09-2011 01:44PM

McCrack wrote: »

Well I don't have vested anti-claimant interests (Injuries Board and insurance industry)

Thats handy to know, but its not answering the question I asked.

If you are a solicitor you may be bias against the Injuries Board/PIAB, as the establishment of Injuries Board/PIAB has reduced an income stream that was available to solicitors via personal injuries claims.

Doinker · 15-09-2011 01:52PM

youtube! wrote: »

Getting compensation for feeling depressed after an accident doesnt seem justified to me, if you have whiplash or a broken leg or whatever then fair enough but surely anyone can get depressed for other reasons not related to an accident, compensation culture is so overboard in this great little country of ours...

And surely someone can get depressed due to someone elses negligence, and if so should be compensated for it.

Thats a very dismissive attitude towards mental health issues.

youtube! · 15-09-2011 01:54PM

ResearchWill wrote: »

I remember talking to a claims person in an insurance company recently, had exactly the same view as you about whiplash injuries, until his wife was in an accident, and he saw on a daily basis the pain she went through.

No you see you havent read what i wrote properly atall have you? Where did I say I had a problem with genuine whiplash injuries being compensated fairly?
I said that the payments in general are way above the UK and probably knowing this country almost every other country in the western world however that does not mean an appropriate level of payment cannot be awarded, what I do have a problem with however is someone claiming a mental disorder on the back of what is essentially a minor accident.

I would consider it for a major life threatening accident or a voilent crime for example but please do me a favour if you think someone should be considered a PTSD case after a belt from behind, I mean if that happens you just get over it and get on with your life, phsyically it is troubling but mentally its nothing.

McCrack · 15-09-2011 04:12PM

Doinker wrote: »

Thats handy to know, but its not answering the question I asked.

If you are a solicitor you may be bias against the Injuries Board/PIAB, as the establishment of Injuries Board/PIAB has reduced an income stream that was available to solicitors via personal injuries claims.

It hasnt, in fact the majority of claims are taken out of the Injuries Board and settled in the traditional way. The only thing it has done is added delay to the injured parties resolution of the matter. The typical solicitor/client fee for Injuries Board work is €1,500-2,000 plus Vat. So the instructed solicitor receives this fee on top of the usual party party costs he/she will receive. As I have already pointed out since PIAB (A) Act 2007 the Injuries Board solicitor fee has to be paid by the injured party.

It really is a sham for plaintiffs.

McCrack · 15-09-2011 04:21PM

youtube! wrote: »

No you see you havent read what i wrote properly atall have you? Where did I say I had a problem with genuine whiplash injuries being compensated fairly?
I said that the payments in general are way above the UK and probably knowing this country almost every other country in the western world however that does not mean an appropriate level of payment cannot be awarded, what I do have a problem with however is someone claiming a mental disorder on the back of what is essentially a minor accident.

I would consider it for a major life threatening accident or a voilent crime for example but please do me a favour if you think someone should be considered a PTSD case after a belt from behind, I mean if that happens you just get over it and get on with your life, phsyically it is troubling but mentally its nothing.

There's a old legal principle that you take the plaintiff as you find them, so if one injured person suffers psychological (diagnosed by a medical practitioner) injury from a car accident and another doesn't so be it.

Also Irish quantum for personal injury is not "way above" the UK.

youtube! · 15-09-2011 04:41PM

Ah the old eggshell skull theory I am well aware of it, however I still say after a minor enough tip resulting in whiplash there is no way someone can be traumatised to the degree that they wont get into a car again. If they were cut out of the wrecage then fair enough,but come on not this.
Also you say UK payouts are not way above Irish ones well the average payout for a whiplash injury is 3500 sterling, that is way below the irish average I am sure

http://www.youclaim.co.uk/whiplash/payouts-for-whiplash-and-thatcham-testing-scores.htm

micky007 · 15-09-2011 04:53PM

Hello
I will leave it another month or so to decide what to do.thats the problem with this country,mental issues are made a joke out of.just because people cant see a big open wound,they think there is no problem.believe me,as far as i can see,mental issues are alot worse than a broken arm etc....

kennM · 21-09-2011 09:02PM

youtube! wrote: »

But this lady was hit from behind in a car and got whiplash,its not like she was a soldier in the vietman war for gods sake! It is simply one of those things that can be greatly exaggerated for the purpose of a bigger payout, do you not agree we have a huge problem in the insurance industry (along with every other area in Irish society it seems) with massive ovepayments?
It is no wonder we are in so much deep water, in the UK the scale of payments for these kind of accidents is nowhere near as much and I doubt they would even entertain a claim for PTSD in such a minor accident, sounds like a crock to me.

Hey Youtube,

Have to say..... spoken from the viewpoint of someone who has never been involved in any sort of serious traffic accident. I could say the same before July 2010 however was seriously injured in an RTA.

As long as injuries are backed up by medical professionals then thats the litmus test to eliminate exagerated claims etc. Your perspective of whats fair becomes a whole lot clearer when you realise you may live the rest of of your life in pain, or loss of function of a limb or increased risk of arthritis, etc. etc. etc.

personal injuries board inquiry......

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