MICHAEL KEMP,
Madam, - Conor Maguire SC, chairman of the Bar Council (October 23rd), replying to my previous correspondence about legal costs and personal injury claims, misquotes the Irish Insurance Federation's calculation for legal costs in personal injury cases in 2001.
In an IIF submission to the Tánaiste in July 2001, insurers detailed how a Personal Injuries Assessment Board could best function by drawing on our first-hand experience as participants in the inefficient and costly civil litigation process. We calculated that the legal costs associated with personal injury claims were as much as €440 million last year.
In order to reform the current expensive system of civil litigation, all interested parties need to start on common ground. While a number of expert reports have been published recently, a clear starting point for reform is provided by the Motor Insurance Advisory Board (MIAB) report, published last April. This expressed the delivery costs in personal injury cases as a percentage of compensation payments.
The costs were: 39.5 per cent in third-party motor claims; 45.9 per cent in employer liability claims; and 56.4 per cent in public liability claims.
Clearly, such costs are excessive and are in themselves compelling reasons for reform. The IIF and insurance companies support the establishment of the PIAB as one reforming measure to reduce the high delivery costs of insurance claims.
In the wake of the Tánaiste's recent announcement establishing an interim board for the PIAB, it is now timely for all parties with an interest in tangible civil litigation reform to set aside their differences and get on with the job in hand. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL KEMP, Chief Executive, Irish Insurance Federation, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.