Unfair potential settlement,

pokerface_me

. I recently had a settlement meeting with my solicitor for a personal injuries claim.

I don't want to go into to much detail as it could potentially identify me. I broke my leg ankle and foot 5 years ago. In these 5 years i've spent roughly 8 months in hospital, had 31 operations and have been left in severe chronic pain a lifelong condition that will be with me for the rest of my life. I have a spinal morphine pump and spinal cord stimulator implanted in my stomach as a form of pain relief.
Ive suffered very bad trauma also and still see my shrink every 2 weeks.

I can't work at the moment mainly due to morphine and severe pain and lost my career. Im just 40 years old married with 5 children. I also face 2 operations every 3 years for the rest of my days.

Liability was admitted by them very early on by them i was offered a sum which i think is unfair and my solicitor has kinda left it with me for a week, it was an out of court offer to include all medical legal and specials and loss of earnings.

Really dont want to sell myself short and am asking for some pointers to the value of my claim. ive been offered between 100k-150k. Any help greatly appreciated as ive no idea where i stand, my solicitor isn't offering much help.

Thanks PF

ResearchWill

While you have given a good account of the medical issues, no one could give you any kind of pointer without seeing full medical reports etc.. If you are in doubt ask the Solicitor to get your SC to do up an advice on quantum, that will set out the pros and cons of your case and an indication of what you claim is worth.

There was a case a couple of years ago, I think it involved dunnes stores, I will try to find it tomorrow, well it set the max for General Damages at circa 450000, of course then special damages are unlimited.

So for example if all your medical expences are paid by the state, then you can't claim them. Also loss or earnings takes into account social welfare, so if you earned 20k a year, but social welfare provides 18k then your loss is 2k. on the other hand if you earned 100k a year and now only have 10k your loss is 90k, I am assuming after tax figures, so 90k times rest of working life could be a couple of million. So 2 people with exactly the same injuries, one could get 600k say and the other 2.6 million.

So without all the info no one can really tell.

RGS

without reading the medical reports and the actuarial report, which will set out your loss of earnings for the rest of your working life, it is difficult to quantify the potential value of the claim.

Yur solicitor and SC should be able to advise you on the range of damages you can expect.

Tayla

RGS wrote: »

Yur solicitor and SC should be able to advise you on the range of damages you can expect.

I think the problem is that his solicitor is not being very helpful.

drkpower

In a six-figure case where liability has been admitted, your solictior and counsel are effectively guaranteed quite a decent payment when the case is resolved. So dont be afraid to use them. Dont be afraid to press them. Dont be afraid to demand that they set out in detail their view on the value of the case and the pros and cons of acceptance/rejection of the offer made. If they are of no help, as you suggest, dont be afraid to threaten to get a new solicitor/barrister if they are not playing ball. You should get some attention fairly pronto then!

Word of warning though; just because liability has been admitted doesnt mean that you can sit back and wait for the offers to increase, at no risk to yourself. By not accepting an offer, you may (if the Defence has made a 'lodgment' or tender) run the risk of being responsible for a substantial part of both parties legal fees when the case finaly finishes up. Talk to your lawyers.

kennM

As indicated above there are a couple of aspects to any settlements including special and general damages.

And as pointed out loss of earnings can be very different depending on your occupation/salary/typical earnings potential etc.

I'm not from a legal background whatsoever, am going through the piab process myself for injuries sustained in a road traffic accident. Given the number of operations, amount of disruption, lifelong pain etc. My initial impression of the offer was quite negative to be honest however I am in NO position to be able to value a claim.

In my view its actually quite annoying or an area where there is a significant gap in the process that you don't really have any mechanism to formulate an "fair evaluation" on your injuries. To put it in lay man terms.... you're being ask to "sell" something and you have limited mechanisms to determine what a fair figure is.

Book of quantum is very vague and really doesn't help when you are trying to assess multiple injuries.

I can't help but thinking a court award would be significantly more than that.... loss of earnings along could be a lot more than that. Lets assume you are not in a position to work again and were earning €50,000, less €18,000 from social welfare. €32,000 per annum till you are 65 = €800,000.... thats just in a lost earnings. Assuming there is medical evidence to state that you can't work again...... etc.

FreudianSlippers

So far a few posts are crossing the legal advice rule... let's keep away from speculation on quantum especially!

blueythebear

kennM wrote: »

As indicated above there are a couple of aspects to any settlements including special and general damages.

And as pointed out loss of earnings can be very different depending on your occupation/salary/typical earnings potential etc.

I'm not from a legal background whatsoever, am going through the piab process myself for injuries sustained in a road traffic accident. Given the number of operations, amount of disruption, lifelong pain etc. My initial impression of the offer was quite negative to be honest however I am in NO position to be able to value a claim.

In my view its actually quite annoying or an area where there is a significant gap in the process that you don't really have any mechanism to formulate an "fair evaluation" on your injuries. To put it in lay man terms.... you're being ask to "sell" something and you have limited mechanisms to determine what a fair figure is.

Book of quantum is very vague and really doesn't help when you are trying to assess multiple injuries.

I can't help but thinking a court award would be significantly more than that.... loss of earnings along could be a lot more than that. Lets assume you are not in a position to work again and were earning €50,000, less €18,000 from social welfare. €32,000 per annum till you are 65 = €800,000.... thats just in a lost earnings. Assuming there is medical evidence to state that you can't work again...... etc.

This is partly why people should engage a solicitor to determine a "fair evaluation" when going through the PIAB process. Your solicitor is in a position to tell you what a fair evaluation and in relation to your loss of earnings, so use him/her.

In relation to your loss of earnings, if the figures are that high, then the services of a vocational assessor and actuary should be engaged in order to accurately determine your potential loss of earnings.

As has been said before, with a settlement in the six figure region, the solicitor and barrister will be paid and so you should avail of their services. A written opinion on quantum from your SC should be sought but you will need to be very assertive if your solicitor is not providing the service you expect.

A threat to change solicitor will often put the frighteners on your current solicitor. It might be something to use in order to refocus your current solicitors priorities...

kennM

pokerface_me wrote: »

. I recently had a settlement meeting with my solicitor for a personal injuries claim.

I don't want to go into to much detail as it could potentially identify me. I broke my leg ankle and foot 5 years ago. In these 5 years i've spent roughly 8 months in hospital, had 31 operations and have been left in severe chronic pain a lifelong condition that will be with me for the rest of my life. I have a spinal morphine pump and spinal cord stimulator implanted in my stomach as a form of pain relief.
Ive suffered very bad trauma also and still see my shrink every 2 weeks.

I can't work at the moment mainly due to morphine and severe pain and lost my career. Im just 40 years old married with 5 children. I also face 2 operations every 3 years for the rest of my days.

Liability was admitted by them very early on by them i was offered a sum which i think is unfair and my solicitor has kinda left it with me for a week, it was an out of court offer to include all medical legal and specials and loss of earnings.

Really dont want to sell myself short and am asking for some pointers to the value of my claim. ive been offered between 100k-150k. Any help greatly appreciated as ive no idea where i stand, my solicitor isn't offering much help.

Thanks PF

Hey PF,

Was doing a little digging myself and came across this... found it quite interesting regarding valuations. I know every case has its own merits and is valued individually etc.

http://www.thejournal.ie/high-court-awards-woman-e130k-after-supermacs-fall-2011-02/

nuac

I agree with some of the previous posts especially ResearchWill and RGS.

Your solicitor will usually have got up to date medical, vocational assessment, actuarial reports etc and submitted same to experienced PI SC for an opinion.

As already mentioned there is in effec a cap on what can be awarded, and also many p;itfalls re lodgements, tenders, etc. Study the opinion when you get it, adn then ask for a consultation.

Good luck