In almost all cases for injury compensation, you must go through the Injuries Board.
There are a number of limited exceptions to this, on which you would need to take specific advice if they apply to you. But even in those exceptional cases, it may be advisable to lodge an application with the Injuries Board and seek to have them issue what they call a ‘section 17 authorisation’ to allow you to bring your case before the courts.
If you make a claim through Injuries Board that shouldn’t have been made to it, you might find that at the end of this unnecessary process, you’ve gone by your 2 year time limit to make a claim. So, your claim could now be statute barred ! i.e. you cannot now make a court claim.
In the vast majority of cases apart from those caused by medical negligence and other limited circumstances, you will have to go through the Injuries Board in the first instance.
At the end of the day though, is it not best to get proper legal advice and avoid pitfalls to your compensation claim ?
