ISME make recommendations in response to a system out of control
The news from the Central Bank this week that almost 70% of personal injuries claims are going through litigation is shocking but is not surprising to business owners.
Despite the fact that the Personal Injuries Resolution Board (PIRB) makes awards recommendations in line with the Judicial Council recommendations for the same amount of damages and in one third of the time it takes cases to go through the courts, we continue to see large volumes of litigation through the courts.
This litigation is evidently not in the financial interest of Plaintiffs.
The Central Bank figures come a week after ISME revealed that the number of personal injuries actions going through the Irish courts exceeds the number going through the courts of England and Wales combined, despite the fact that the Irish population is 12 times smaller. The number of defamation cases in Ireland also exceeds that in England and Wales.
Ireland demonstrably has a systemic problem with the amount of civil litigation going through its courts system. It makes no sense that a common-law jurisdiction of Ireland’s size is generating more civil litigation than that of England and Wales.
It is also clear that, with personal injuries awards in Ireland already far higher than those in the next most generous jurisdiction in Europe (the UK), there is no justification whatsoever for Dáil Éireann to accede to the recommendation of the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee to increase awards, and indeed a good case exists to reduce those awards levels further.
Given that the data show that Ireland’s civil litigation system is effectively running out of control, ISME is suggesting a number of quick fixes in response to the issue:
- The Department of Justice must encode more of the rules governing the functioning of our courts (such as “costs follow the event”) into primary legislation.
- The DOJ must also immediately action the Minority Report of the Review of the Administration of Civil Justice, which was endorsed by Mr Justice Peter Kelly, Chair of the Review. This will fix fees in the Circuit and High Courts. The DOJ must also produce an action plan to deliver on the other recommendations in this enormous report. Further delay is unacceptable.
- The defamation reform bill currently before the Dáil requires substantial amendment before it is fit for purpose and will deliver on commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights, and the EU Anti-SLAPP directive.
- All members of the Board of the Courts Service and of the Superior Courts Rules Committee must complete comprehensive declarations of interest and must absent themselves from all discussions and decisions which impact those declared interests.
- The Legal Services Regulatory Authority must commence investigation into lawyers who are taking their clients down the civil litigation route in the majority of personal injuries cases, despite it not being in their clients’ financial interest to do so. The LSRA must also, like their counterparts in the Solicitors Regulation Authority in the UK, initiate investigation into lawyers practicing abusive and vexatious litigation.
The Irish Courts Service data is available here: https://www.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/2b552955-e0f9-41a2-80e7-c526d24651e2/Courts%20Service%20Annual%20Report%202023.pdf/pdf/1
The Royal Courts of Justice data for England and Wales is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/666094e7d470e3279dd3367d/Royal_Courts_of_Justice_Annual_Tables-_2023.ods
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Issued on behalf of ISME by Heneghan
