The Alliance for Insurance Reform has suggested that court cases to resolve claims that have already been ruled on by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) should commence with an exhibition of the prior PIAB claim to verify that they are by and large the same.
The suggested amendment to the Personal Injuries Resolution Bill 2022 is one of several the group, which represents 47 civic and business organisations, will present to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment on Wednesday (25 May).
The Alliance said it would outline how PIAB has been undermined to the extent that 12% of liability injury claimants settles through the mechanism in 2019, compared to 14% in 2015.
It will also recommend that the bill allows for periodic reviews of the new legislation to consider additional reforms to counter unforeseen challenges, similar to one that is already built into founding legislation underpinning the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.
The Alliance will also say that it will be "a missed opportunity" if the government does not consider making PIAB into "a quasi-judicial body," similar to the Workplace Relations Commission, Residential Tenancies Board or An Bord Pleanála.
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Concluding the submission, the Alliance said that “government has a golden opportunity to make the cost of insurance affordable now and forever, but only if they get meaningful reforms, such as this legislation, into place now, before the opportunity is lost.”
In a survey carried out by the Alliance last month, 42% of respondents said insurance costs are threatening the future of their organisation, and 31% said they were preventing them from providing certain services, up from 26% in 2018.
The survey also indicated that liability premiums have risen 16% in the past 12 months, and nearly three-quarters of enterprises have also had additional excesses or exclusions imposed on their policies since 2019, pushing additional risk and cost from insurers onto policyholders.
Ultimately, 90% of respondents to the survey said that government is not doing enough to address the issue of insurance costs.
Alliance directors Peter Boland and Tracy Sheridan will appear before the committee, which is resuming pre-legislative scrutiny of the bill, along with Insurance Ireland's Moyagh Murdock, Florian Wimber, Michael Curtin, and Michael Horan.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, committee Cathaoirleach Maurice Quinlivan said: “Pre-legislative scrutiny of this legislation by this Committee began in March and it is envisaged that it will be enacted later this year and will increase the number of personal injury claims that are resolved through the PIAB process rather than litigation.”
“A Central Bank report published in 2020 found that the legal costs associated with setline personal injury claims through litigation were up to 20 times more costly than going through the PIAB. It is clear that expanding the mandate of the PIAB to resolve more claims will help to drive down legal costs for consumers.”
“We welcome the opportunity to hear from representatives from Insurance Ireland and the Alliance for Insurance Reform to gain their insights on the Bill and what it means for consumers.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
