ANALYSIS:WHAT HAPPENS to the millions of euro often awarded by the courts where a plaintiff has suffered catastrophic injuries, resulting in serious disability?
Such a plaintiff might be a child who suffered brain damage at birth, or an adult rendered paraplegic by a motor accident requiring round-the-clock care for the rest of his or her life.
So what is done with this sum? The answer is that anything can happen to it. If the plaintiff does not become a ward of court (this happens when the person is not capable of looking after his or her own affairs, and does not have a parent/guardian who can do so), then the responsibility for investing all this money falls on the individual themselves or the parents in the case of a child.
It has long been recognised that this is not a satisfactory situation, according to Mr Justice John Quirke, chairman of the expert group set up to study the option of periodic payments to people who suffered catastrophic injuries.
Everyone on the group, which included representatives of the legal profession, the Courts Service, the insurance industry the HSE and patients, knew of cases where either the money awarded had proved inadequate for the long-term needs of the beneficiary, or it was too much, as the person died earlier than expected, leaving an unexpected windfall to his or her heirs.
Mr Justice Quirke recalled a case where a driver had a very serious crash while drunk, causing catastrophic injuries to his wife who was in the passenger seat. She was rendered paraplegic and was in constant pain and sued the driver, her husband, who was the insured. She received a major financial award in compensation for her injuries, and died weeks later. Her husband, who had been the defendant in the action, was her heir.
“You also see people in wheelchairs, seriously incapacitated, who receive an award of €3 to €4 million, being besieged by relatives offering advice on investing the money. Their misery is increased by the award,” he said.
The parents of children who suffered serious brain injuries at birth and will need continuing care often want the security of knowing that care will be there, rather than the additional stress of dealing with a lump sum award, he said.
The group examined the situation in other jurisdictions, discovering that most other countries in Europe have some system for ongoing payment. The most comprehensive system, and the one closest to the legal regime here, was that recently introduced in the UK.
The report will now be handed on to the Government. Mr Justice Quirke stressed that it is not the function of the group to promote it. “It is for the legislature to decide on policy,” he said. Nonetheless, the report contains proposals for amending legislation to allow for periodic payments instead of lump sums to the victims of very serious injury.