Settling Your Personal Injury Claim Before a Court Hearing
Settling Your Personal Injury Claim Before a Court Hearing
If you have a personal injury claim currently either lodged with the Injuries Board/PIAB or court proceedings have issued, you maybe able to settle your case before a formal court hearing.
In this blog post, I'm going to examine everything you'll need to know about settling a personal injury claim before a court hearing.
So lets start at the beggining.
What is a settlement?
A settlement of your personal injuries claim essentially means that you ultimately will agree to an amount of compensation you will accept for the injuries you have suffered including your special damages (ie out of pocket expenses, medical expenses, loss of earnings etc).
Settlement meetings do not always work and sometimes take more than one attempt however the process is as follows:
How are settlements reached?
1. Settlement meeting arranged by your solicitor
A settlement meeting will be setup by your solicitor and a time and date set for the parties to meet. This may be remotely or it may be in the Courts themselves. At the settlement meeting, you will meet with your personal injury solicitor and barrister (if one is engaged at this stage of your proceedings).
Your legal team will, in turn, also meet with the solicitors hired on the other side by the defendant. There is no roundtable meeting and so you will not be cross-examined and will only ever meet your legal team on the day of settlement talks.
2. Negotiations
Negotiations will take place regarding the amount of compensation that should be payable for your personal injury claim.
Your solicitor will at all times advise you whether they believe that the offer being made is in your best interests and whether it sufficiently covers what your case should achieve.
The determining factor in this regard will be what your personal injuries solicitor believes you would receive from a court should a full hearing take place. You can then weight up this amount against any risks that may be involved, any claim of contributory negligence along with the obvious time benefit of settling a case early without having to wait for a court hearing.
Settlement also removes the court hearing from your personal injury claim which means you do not go through the full evidence process and cross examination which can be a stressful experience for plaintiffs.
How long does it take to settle a personal injury claim in Ireland? What happens when you do settle?
Claims can take anywhere from a few months to a few years. The duration will all depend on the complexity of your particular case.
If you successfully settle your claim, payment is generally made quite quickly and within a number of weeks. Your solicitor will be able to guide you on this.
If negotiations are not successful and your personal injury claim is not settled, do not fret. There will always be further possibility of talks.
Should I settle or go to Court?
For the most part, settlements are quicker, faster, and less stressful. The negative aspect is if you settle out of court you might not receive adequate compensation.
One final point to note is that if you do settle your personal injury claim and accept the compensation being offered, this is final. You will not have the right to reopen the claim again down the line or take further proceedings for the injuries you have suffered.
Therefore, you should ensure you discuss the compensation amount in detail with your personal injury solicitor to ensure it adequately covers your injuries.
