State facing potential liability of €332m in 'slopping out' cases
The State is facing a potential liability of €332.7m concerning nine separate mass action personal injury claims including those being taken by former ‘slopping out’ prisoners.
That is according to the 2019 annual report of the State Claims Agency (SCA) which has confirmed that the total potential liability from all claims to the State soared by €480m from €3.15bn at the start of 2019 to €3.63bn at the end of December last.
The figures show that estimated liability from catastrophic injury clinical claims make up the bulk of the estimated liability and last year increased by €268m from €1.7bn to €1.97bn.
The estimated liability of €1.97bn from catastrophic injury claims at the end of last year makes up 54.5% of the overall potential €3.63bn liability.
The potential liability from other clinical claims total €745.6m while the potential liability from general claims climbed by €89m or 11% from €820.8m to €909.8m at the end of last year.
The report states that the estimated outstanding liability associated with active catastrophic injury claims has increased by 105% over the period 2015 to 2019.
The report states that the due to the high value of catastrophic injury claims, it is the principal driver of the overall estimated outstanding liability.
The number of active catastrophic injury claims has increased by 42% over the period from 2015 to 2019 from 214 to 304.
The report states that such claims can take some time to resolve because of their complexity, in particular the number of independent expert reports required to be commissioned in respect of liability, causation and quantum.
The report states that the estimated outstanding liability associated with other clinical claims has increased by 93% from 2015 to 2019, despite a much smaller rise in the number of active claims of 10% from 2,786 to 3,066.
The report explains that the increase is primarily driven by claims in the €100,000 to €500,000 estimated liability range.
Last year, the SCA resolved 2,704 claims and received 3,516 new claims.
The cost of resolving and managing all ongoing active claims for the SCA last year totalled €416.9m which was an increase of 20% on the 2018 total of €347.1m.
The costs were last year made up of settlements of €307.3m and legal and other costs of €109.6m - last year clinical settlements accounted for €251.7m of settlements and €73.5m of legal and other costs.
The report states that the €58.3m increase in all settlements is primarily due to increased lump sum payments and the €11.5m increase in legal costs is primarily due to increased costs from clinical claims.
At the end of 2019, the SCA was dealing with 11,580 active claims and 2,472 or 21% related to mass action claims.
The majority of the claims at 1,562 related to the lack of in-cell sanitation claims taken by former and current prisoners against the Irish Prison Service (IPS).
Last November, the Supreme Court found that the plaintiff in the lead case, Gary Simpson should be paid €7,500 compensation.
The SCA state that arising from the judgement, the agency has devised a scheme of settlement under which offers of damages and legal costs are being made to qualifying plaintiffs.
The report states that 66 in cell sanitation claims were resolved last year and 84 new claims lodged.
Other ‘mass action claims’ include 216 active claims by current and former members of the Defence Forces concerning the impact of the anti-malaria drug, Lariam with legal proceedings served in relation to 88 cases.
Sixty-one claims were received last year and eight were resolved.
In another mass action claim, the number of new claims concerning children who allegedly developed Narcolepsy after being vaccinated for the H1N1 flu virus last year totalled 38 resulting in 122 active claims at the end of 2019.
The report states that the lead case taken by Aoife Bennett was settled through mediation in November.
Other mass action claims take place under the headings of ‘Prison based TB’ involving 23 active claims; Thalidomide involving 36 active claims; Mother and Baby Home Homes involving 45 active claims and 117 active claims by persons who alleged they were physically and/or sexually abused at day schools and residential institutions.
The report also reveals that of the 221 CervicalCheck cases identified by the HSE where a screening test could have provided a different result or a warning of increased risk of evidence of developing cancer, the SCA has received notification of 134 claims at the end of 2019.
The report states that the total includes 18 psychological injury claims from members of the families of the women concerned.
The report states that seven cases were settled during the year and the total number of cases settled at the end of last year was 10.
The report adds that the resolution of these “very tragic cases” remained a focus of the SCA during 2019.
