New Figures released by the Injuries Board show that the number of awards made to Kildare residents in 2015 exceeded £10 million in damages. There were 468 compensation awards made with the average award being €23,029 an increase from the previous year of over 6%.
The breakdown of individual claims were as follows:
330 claims for motor accidents,
61 for Employer Liability
77 for Public liability
The highest Counties for awards per head of population was Longford, Limerick and Louth. The lowest Counties were Wexford, Wicklow and Kilkenny.
In 2015 the Injuries Board made 11,734 personal injury awards totalling €268.4 million The figure in 2013 was €118 million made in 5,286 cases.
The average award for motor accidents was €21,470 with 3 out every awards being in this category.
Liam Moloney a Naas based Solicitor commented on the recent figures “most of the awards (75.6%) were in respect of motor claims with 17.2% being for public liability and 7.2% being for employer liability claims. The number of employer liability awards for the 6 month period was 470 compared to 852 for the whole of 2013.
He added “there are as many as 60,000 potential personal injury claims each year. Up to 15,000 cases reported to insurers every year never materialise as a claim but are provided for in insurance company’s reserves before being written down to nil”.
Out of the 45,000 claims that do materialise 40% (18,000) were settled up front directly between the parties without recourse to the Injuries Board or the Court.
He continued “it is critical that injured people never settle a case directly with an Insurance Company without having first obtained a detailed medical report and sought legal advice. If a case is settled directly and someone goes on to have further medical problems and expenses after that, the case cannot then be re-opened.”
