Fachtna O Driscoll Solicitors Cork brought a successful personal injuries claim for a client who suffered a fracture to her hip when she struck a glass wall in a shopping centre. Our litigation team submitted an Application to the Injuries Board and secured a substantial settlement for our client without her having to go to court and give evidence.
Cases like this show how well the Injuries Board functions when dealing with relatively straightforward cases. The Board does not operate akin to a court passing judgement between a plaintiff and a defendant, and ultimately deciding between them as to who is liable, or to blame for an injury. It simply decides questions of compensation. The Injuries Board is based on agreement whereas a court’s purpose is to arbitrate points of contention between adversarial parties.
Nevertheless, the Board clearly has its drawbacks and limitations, not least of which is that it can sometimes greatly elongate the whole process of being compensated for an injury. There is also no means by which innocent victims may recover their legal costs, unlike in a court of law, where a successful personal injuries claim will often include the legal costs in the award, or equally in an out-of-court settlement. In a sense, this means that there is an injustice committed every time compensation is awarded, as it does not include the cost of legal representation, and yet without legal representation it is highly probable that the claimant will not succeed in his or her claim. Find out more about this subject on our personal injury page.
