The High Court has dismissed the challenge of a Co Waterford woman to the constitutionality of new guidelines reducing damages for minor personal injuries.
Bridget Delaney from Dungarvan claimed she fractured her ankle after she tripped and fell on a footpath in April 2019.
She alleged negligence on the part of Waterford City Council and disputed the assessment of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board that her injury merited an award of €3,000 under the new guidelines which came into effect last year.
She claimed her case should have been assessed at between €18,000 and €34,000 under the Book of Quantum which has been replaced by the new guidelines.
Her action was the lead case in a number of challenges to the guidelines.
Dismissing her action, Mr Justice Charles Meenan, ruled Ms Delaney's constitutional rights of property, bodily integrity and equality did not include a right to a particular sum of damages.
Rather, he said, she had a right to have her damages assessed in accordance with well established legal principles. The effect of this was that the level of damages varied over time.
The case will be back in court on 30 June to deal with the issue of costs.
In his ruling, the judge said there were clear, well established principles for the awarding of general damages.
He said these principles provided that the level of damages was not only a matter between a plaintiff and a defendant, but also for society in general.
The judge said economic, social and commercial conditions had to be taken into account when fixing levels of awards.
Mr Justice Meenan said the Judicial Council Committee which drew up the guidelines methodically followed the principles and policies as directed by the Oireachtas in the 2019 Judicial Council act.
The committee also took expert economic and legal advice.
He said the committee was not mandated to reduce awards for minor injuries or to increase awards for catastrophic injuries.
The reduction came about as a result of the committee applying the provisions of the legislation.
He also ruled the committee was entitled to fix levels of awards taking into account awards in other jurisdictions.
He said the requirement for a court to have regard for the guidelines did not encroach on judicial independence as there was a provision for courts to depart from the guidelines for rational, cogent and justifiable reasons.
He said the judiciary was an appropriate body to draft and adopt the guidelines given the independence of the judiciary and judges' experience in awarding damages.
He added that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board had acted in accordance with the relevant provisions of the legislation.
The ruling in Ms Delaney's case could have significant implications for other plaintiffs who claimed their awards should have been higher.
The Personal Injuries Assessment Board welcomed the judgment, which it said, found that the introduction of the guidelines was constitutional and also removed uncertainty and brought greater clarity on their application.
PIAB also welcomed the judge's finding that the board acted correctly and lawfully in accordance with the legislation in assessing the claim involved.
It said it hoped the ruling would result in more cases being involved through PIAB’s non adversarial claims resolution service which removed avoidable costs and delivered fair awards faster than litigation.
The Alliance for Insurance Reform also welcomed the judgement.
Director Peter Boland said: "It is now up to lawyers, plaintiffs, insurers and the judiciary to respect the judicial guidelines and for insurers to deliver their part of the bargain by passing on the benefits of this critical reform in substantial reductions to the cost of liability cover and further, proportionate reductions to motor insurance costs."
Robert Troy, who is Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation with responsibility for the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, also welcomed the judgement.
"The Guidelines have brought much needed consistency and transparency to personal injury awards," he said.
"The PIAB process offers the fastest and most cost-effective means of fairly resolving personal injuries claims."
"Legislation which I published in February will give more powers and responsibilities to PIAB to increase the number of claims resolved without recourse to litigation."
