24th December 2022
Highland Radio Interview 18th November 2022
Coming to the penultimate show of 2022, the announcement of the Motor Insurer’s profits increasing to € 176 Million for 2021 did merit comment and discussion this morning.
A € 5 Million increase on the previous year comes on the backdrop of the 3rd report from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) recently published which showed general damages in relation to injury awards down by 44%. Our contributor Seamus Gunn outlined the background to the introduction of the Personal Injuries Board from 2003 UpToDate, the fact that there have been 2 books of Quantum to assist with assessing claims and more recently since April 2021 new guidelines were laid down by the Judicial Council following the 2019 Act. He also referred to further legislation in the pipeline being the Personal Injuries Resolution Bill which is currently progressing through the Oireachtas to further aid PIAB in extending periods of time for assessing claims and also giving them more powers to retain claims of a psychological nature which otherwise were the subject of Authorisations issuing. New measures put in place to curb awards to date have resulted in significant savings by insurers which Greg Hughes said were not being passed on to the consumer. Our contributor referenced examples of public liability insurance skyrocketing over the years for small businesses struggling to keep their doors open and keep people employed while insurers stood to make vast profits. He said that the purpose for which the legislation and PIAB was introduced was to make savings which ultimately were to be passed on to the public. He said that for the period of 2021 it was stated that premiums per policy fell just 2%. However, compared to 2009 the average premium in 2021 was 23% higher. He noted that there was little doubt that claims have reduced significantly since 2009, while there has been no benefit for the consumer. He said that he was of the opinion that it was the victim who is entitled to compensation who is being penalised firstly on awards and secondly on the premiums they were paying where the insurance companies were the benefactors. He thought that the same level of scrutiny should be applied to insurers as has been to the Personal Injury industry. He believed that this merited further attention. Greg Hughes referenced the small population of Ireland compared to the UK from which such profits were being made and also the loading on young drivers. Both host and contributor seemed to be ad idem on the imbalance herein. It shall be interesting to observe if the matter is addressed on the national stage as we approach the year end.
Some news relevant to a new Family Law Division/Court was referred to in the usual lively and varied Q&A that followed. All can be listened to below.
25th October 2022
7th October 2022 Highland Radio Broadcast
The Greg Hughes show kicked off to a lively start this morning with a debate on the Judgement delivered midweek by Judge Steyn in the High Court in London on the question of the legal costs that followed the dismissal of Rebekah Vardy’s Defamation case against Coleen Rooney, when she ordered the former to pay costs estimated at £1.5 million to Mrs. Rooney with the first tranche to be paid by 4 pm on the 15th of November next. Seamus Gunn was of the opinion that there may yet be a pay day for each of the parties in the action due to the interest the case generated on the world stage, saying that it was likely that documentaries and TV shows would follow which would go a long way towards discharging the fees involved in the case. He thought that it beggared belief how Mrs. Rooney’s private life as reported in the Sun Newspaper, featuring traveling to Mexico for gender selection, a return to TV and her basement flooding would give rise to a Court case which could ultimately cost in or around £ 3 million, taking into account each party’s legal fees. He explained that Mrs. Rooney would have already expended a considerable sum pre-trial and that these fees may not be recoverable.
Our contributor thought that Mrs. Vardy may have been considering an appeal after the initial Judgement dismissing her case but that she had major hurdles to overcome which were described as “unfortunate incidents” in the Trial which included a mobile phone being dropped into the sea, forgotten passwords and a broken laptop. He thought that without recovery of this data an appeal may only double the exposure without a return for Mrs. Vardy. He said the Judge’s summing up of the witnesses describing Mrs. Rooney as honest and reliable in comparison to Mrs. Vardy being manifestly inconsistent.. evasive or implausible were significant credibility issues.
Greg Hughes enquired as to whether there was any mechanism in place to safeguard against one taking an action such as Defamation without having the funds to back it. Our Contributor explained the circumstances which may lead to an application to the Court at the early stages of Proceedings seeking security for costs from a party to which this may apply, where they would have to put up a sum in advance of the matter going to Court to cover costs in the event of being unsuccessful. Seamus Gunn thought that the interest going forward shall be how the story plays out in the various different media channels and platforms.
There was also a mention of the class action being brought by some of the entertainment artists against the Daily Mail to restrict the reporting of the kind of gossip that led to the “Wagatha Christie” Trial. Our contributor was of the view that while this may reduce the actual costs per capita pursuing such a claim, that the Daily Mail had such a vested interest in it that they were likely to fully defend their position, a case for the future no doubt.
Various topics were touched on in the interesting Q&A that followed. You can listen to these and the full interview below.