Legislative Changes – Personal Injuries

Legislative Changes – Personal Injuries

There have been recent legislative changes enacted pertaining to personal injuries litigation as follows:

1. Section 8 Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 – From 28 January 2019, there is an obligation to serve an initial letter of claim within 1 month and a court shall draw inferences from a failure to do so. All Personal Injuries Summons issued after this date must provide an explanation as to what reasonable cause exists to explain the delay where the letter is not served in time. A failure to do so may lead to adverse costs consequences.
2. Section 14– From 28 January 2019, a failure by either the Plaintiff or Defendant to verify pleadings within 21 days of delivery of such pleading now includes new penalty provisions to allow a court draw inferences from the failure to do so and either make no order as to the payment of costs to the Plaintiff or deduct such amount from the costs that would be payable to the Plaintiff as it considers appropriate.
3. Section 51C (New Provision) – From 3^rd April 2019, a claimant who has not co-operated with the Injuries Board fully by providing information or documents as requested may be penalised. A failure to attend a medical assessment arranged by the Injuries Board may also result in the claimant being penalised.
4. Section 13 (New provision) – From 3^rd April 2019, no requirement to lodge a medical report with the Form A application. A preliminary notice will issue but the formal process will not progress until the medical report and application fee is received. This is useful to stop the statute where no medical report is to hand.
5. Section 50 (New provision) – From 3^rd April 2019, the date of joining a new respondent to an application already made will be the date on which the statute stops for the purposes of Section 50 and not backdated to the date the original application was lodged. This is an important provision to remember when lodging an application against multiple Respondents and especially so when the statute is running out.

If you have any queries on personal injuries or litigation generally, please do not hesitate to contact Niall MacCarthy or Brendan Dillon of this office on 01 2960666 or niallmaccarthy@dillon.ie