I want to claim for personal injury* compensation but need to know how long does it take to make a claim?
When contemplating claiming for compensation “how long does it take to make a claim” is a very important question; and the answer may be what confirms a potential plaintiff’s decision. Compensation claims for personal injury* takes much less time now than they have previously. Only a few years ago, insurance companies had every opportunity to extend a case, and could expect to delay paying compensation for years, due to a huge backlog in cases. Indeed, many cases were settled in the court house, only minutes before a hearing was due to occur.
However, all this has changed since the Injuries Board Ireland was established by the Personal Injuries* Assessment Board (PIAB) Act of 2003, in order to reduce the time spent on resolving each personal injury* case and a fixed time limit was put in place for insurance companies to negotiate a settlement. It is the Injuries Board’s intention to respond to most claims within a nine month period.
To further your understanding of “how long does it take to make a claim” it is worth noting that during this nine month length of time, your solicitor can also negotiate with the insurance company. Your solicitor can possibly even finalise your claim at this stage and even after the Injuries Board’s assessment is completed, your solicitor can continue negotiations. In fact, only a small percentage of claims are settled for how much compensation the Injuries Board recommends and the majority of cases are settled in out of court negotiations between your solicitor and the negligent party’s insurers.