Advertisement
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
https://www.boards.ie/group/1878-subscribers-forum

Private Group for paid up members of Boards.ie. Join the club.
Hi all, please see this major site announcement: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058427594/boards-ie-2026

Insurance levy up to 2pc - why not cut compo culture legal fees, or tax them instead?

  • 14-09-2011 10:31AM
    #1
    andrewdeerpark
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 951 ✭✭✭


    In today's paper the Insurance levy going up to 2pc mainly as a result of Quinn Insurance and the failure of the Quinn group.

    http://examiner.ie/ireland/stealth-tax-to-pay-for-quinn-losses-167434.html
    2 Points here:

    -Everyone else has taken cuts and will have more coming, however Compo culture is booming again, since the legal profession picked over the PIAB; why not cut legal payouts or impose a 2pc TAX on all legal payouts awarded to all individuals on a case: Plaintiff, barrister, solicitor, engineers, medical professionals etc.

    -The legal profession hated Quinn as he did not play by their incestuous greed and corruptions where the solititor looks after the barrister greases his palms then the engineer, then the medial professional. Instead he used “underhand” tactics of approaching the client directly cutting out the legal gravy train I wonder if current Quinn policy remains the same or is the system back to uniform corruption across all parties again with the gravy train rolling at full speed???
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    dats_right
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,169 ✭✭✭dats_right


    andrewdeerpark wrote: »
    In today's paper the Insurance levy going up to 2pc mainly as a result of Quinn Insurance and the failure of the Quinn group.

    http://examiner.ie/ireland/stealth-tax-to-pay-for-quinn-losses-167434.html
    2 Points here:

    -Everyone else has taken cuts and will have more coming, however Compo culture is booming again, since the legal profession picked over the PIAB; why not cut legal payouts or impose a 2pc TAX on all legal payouts awarded to all individuals on a case: Plaintiff, barrister, solicitor, engineers, medical professionals etc.

    -The legal profession hated Quinn as he did not play by their incestuous greed and corruptions where the solititor looks after the barrister greases his palms then the engineer, then the medial professional. Instead he used “underhand” tactics of approaching the client directly cutting out the legal gravy train I wonder if current Quinn policy remains the same or is the system back to uniform corruption across all parties again with the gravy train rolling at full speed???

    Get real. What a ridiculous post. Why should injured parties have to pay a levy on the compensation that they are rightfully entitled to? In any event, even by your skewed logic, such a levy wouldn't go anywhere near covering the losses incurred by Quinn's mad "investments" in Anglo.

    Quinn not playing by underhand tactics! That made me laugh, but you are joking right? Don't you realise that the underhand tactics associated with his foolhardy investment in Anglo caused this whole situation and the house of cards to come tumbling down? The insurance companies reserves were used up to fund this little disastrous adventure, meaning that his insurance company no longer had sufficient reserves to meet future claims.

    If anyone should have to pay for this, it is Sean Quinn himself, it is he who should have to stump up the cash to resolve the situation. Also he's happy enough, when it suits him, to have lawyers in various parts of the world working away to keep assets out of the reach from his creditors back in Ireland in an effort to save his own bacon.

    By the way this levy is nothing new, it was seen before when the PMPA went to the wall in the early 1980's. The advantages of it are that it has the least impact on the largest amount of people possible. It may not be popular but it is perhaps the only realistic way of covering the liabilities.

    Quinn has wreaked havoc on this country and should be shunned by all right thinking members of society.


  • #3
    Grolschevik
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,472 ✭✭✭Grolschevik


    And, just as an aside, that's an extra 2% on PII, too...


  • #4
    andrewdeerpark
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 951 ✭✭✭andrewdeerpark


    dats_right

    Firstly I am no defending Sean Quinn however the Quinn story is more complex than you like to portray.

    The Quinn group he built provides thousands of jobs mostly in his home border counties and produces tangible goods: glass, insulation, cement, quarries, as well as his service industries like insurance unlike the leeching legal profession.

    He has provided these jobs in poor counties to his local people and this can never be taken away from him.

    Yes he took a gamble on super rich stardom, by his punt on Anglo and it did not work out for him, however he got plenty of advice from financial and legal sources that I’m sure all got paid well for their “professional advice”.

    To say Quinn wreaked havoc on this country does not stand up to scrutiny as the system let this happen: regulators, financial wizards, accountants and legal professionals.

    Do not forget Lynn and Byrne, those glorious examples of legal corruption that are only the tip of the iceberg. Amazing the amnesia among the legal profession regarding the shady, to down right corrupt legal practices that we rampant over the boom years. This can be seen in the current mess that is NAMA with massive issues regarding property title on loans secured on these properties across various banks with the solicitors bending rules along the way to con the banks into loans; the banks themselves happy to comply. Dirty corruption and this is only one example, there is plenty of others regarding client accounts funds raided etc….

    My point is to drive the pain of this insurance funding shortfall onto the leeching comp culture brigade in the country hence the excellent idea of 2pc taken from all beneficiaries.

    Remember we have the highest payouts in compo cases with the highest fees in Europe generated for the solicitors, barristers, engineers, and medical professionals concerned; so all can afford this slight haircut. This has not stopped during the recession, in fact its worse. This has been highlighted by the IMF however its business as usual as I see it; maybe the proposed constitutional amendment on judges pay is a start, however I do not hold much hope on that being the case.

    You did not address Quinn’s pioneering tactics, which the legal profession despised, which he deserves great credit for, as he was the first to challenge the norm and attempt to take on this great bastion of power and privilege in the country; for that I personally salute him. My question is now has Quinn Insurance changed? Gone and adopted the tactics of all the other insurance firms and pay unchallenged all those on the compo culture gravy train. That I do not know however I believe from my sources in the legal profession that the hunger to close a case early with the least possible cost is gone to the detriment of the consumer.


  • #5
    Victor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,904 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    andrewdeerpark wrote: »
    Dirty corruption and this is only one example, there is plenty of others regarding client accounts funds raided etc….
    And Quinn did much the same - to the tune of hundreds of millions.

    He gambled with money that wasn't his to gamble with and when the house of cards came down, things were found wanting becuase of him and his buddies.


Advertisement
Advertisement