Time for the Legislature to rectify the indexation problems in the PPO legislation
Posted in [Blog] on Wednesday, April 27th, 2022
Marian Fogarty of Cantillons Solicitors contributes to RTE’s report calling on the Legislature to rectify the indexation problems in the PPO legislation – you can hear and read the report here: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/0418/1292937-payments/
Note: a Periodic Payment Order (PPO) provides financial security to a Plaintiff and is designed to meet the care and other needs of a catastrophically injured Plaintiff over the course of their lifetime. It is a full and final settlement similar to a lump sum, the only difference being the PPO is paid out periodically. The current PPO legislation is set out in Section 2 of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act 2017 and was commenced on October 1, 2018.
However, in the case of Hegarty v HSE – where Cantillons solicitors acted for the Plaintiff – the High Court in November 2019, noted the Plaintiff’s experts’ evidence was unanimous that the indexation chosen (HICP) by the Legislature in the PPO legislation will as a matter of probability, not meet the future care needs of catastrophically injured persons. Therefore, the Court (charged with protecting the best interests of the Plaintiff), could not approve of a PPO in its current legislative form. As a result, vulnerable catastrophically injured Plaintiffs are being deprived of the choice of electing for a PPO (which is meant to provide more certainty and less risk than a lump sum payment) for as long as the deficits in the PPO legislation remain.
Contact us at Cantillons Solicitors at +353 (0)21 -4275673 or info@cantillons.com if you would like more information.
* In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage of any award or settlement