All Personal injury claims are required by law in Ireland to be submitted to the PIAB, known as the Injuries Board, for assessment of value. Medical negligence claims however are not submitted to the PIAB.
The PIAB will probably make an assessment of value of your injuries, depending on a number of important factors. The PIAB will consider the nature and severity of your injury and your long term future. That does not mean that you are obliged to accept the Injuries Board assessment. You might accept it or, if you think it is too little, you may reject it and choose to go to court instead. Your Personal injury solicitor will advise you of how much a court would assign to your injury.
According to the PIAB annual report around 46% of assessments are rejected by either party.
Book of Quantum
The Book of Quantum can be found on the PIAB website (www.piab.ie)
It was created by the PIAB and provides a general rule of thumb on the monetary value that maybe assessed by them for a personal injury claim. It was last updated in 2016 and it is used by the PIAB as a guideline when they are assessing a personal injury claim. The information in the Book of Quantum is compiled by assessing sample cases from a large number of cases over a certain period of time. All the calculations are based on actual personal injury cases.
The Book of Quantum analyses both the various information on all types of personal injuries cases and the amounts that have been awarded in the past by the Courts. As the Book of Quantum was last updated in 2016, it is always going to be out of date to some extent. All claims to the PIAB, of course, must be supported by appropriate documented medical evidence. The medical evidence should include all reports and records from the time of the injury and all the subsequent examinations since the accident occurred.
The Book of quantum is just a general guide as to how much may be awarded for personal injury claims. It is essential that you instruct a Personal Injury lawyer, who will properly prepare and evaluate your claim.
