The attempt of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to be a "lawyer-free zone" has foundered. The High Court ruled on Tuesday that the PIAB cannot refuse to deal directly with claimants' solicitors when asked to do so.
The right to legal representation, it said, extends to "statutory bodies even of a strictly administrative type". The insurance industry has identified legal costs as a major component of overall insurance costs, claiming that they add 40 per cent to the cost of awards. The reduction of legal costs is seen, therefore, as a key objective of insurance reform.
The PIAB assesses compensation in cases where liability is not contested. Its chairwoman, Ms Dorothea Dowling, has argued that lawyers are not necessary in this regard and that all that is needed is a "Book of Quantum" containing ball-park figures based on existing court awards, and professional assessors capable of assessing the nature and impact of specific injuries. She has pointed out, correctly, that such cases are routinely settled without any legal issues arising.
But all cases, whether liability is contested or not, must first go to the PIAB. Only when a case is registered with PIAB can it proceed to a court for settlement of issues like liability or disagreement about the award. This is where the difficulty arose with the PIAB refusing to deal directly with solicitors. As Mr Justice McMenamin pointed out in his judgment, the procedures for pursuing claims before the PIAB are in many ways analogous to the steps necessary for the initiation of court proceedings. If mistakes are made at this stage, they could jeopardise the eventual court hearing.
There is no doubt that the legal profession has a strong vested interest in retaining its involvement in personal injuries claims. The Irish Insurance Federation says this work was worth €440 million to lawyers and the experts they engaged in 2001. That figure will have risen since.
The arguments of the legal profession need to be treated sceptically as a result. But they should not be rejected out of hand. The insurance industry has made it clear that, flushed with its victories to date, it is now seeking a reduction in compensation awards. Accident victims have no representative organisation and, however inadequate, only the lawyers' organisation has been vocal so far in speaking on their behalf. It is significant that the legal profession has recently been joined in this regard by the union representing 40,000 craft-workers.
The PIAB is a worthy initiative and Tuesday's ruling provides an opportunity for reflection: to establish if it, or the legislation on which it is based, can be improved.