Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw is concerned about how long it takes for personal injury claims to be resolved.
She said Cabinet had recently seen “an influx” of such cases and was aware of the need to “create some level of urgency in being able to settle these matters”.
“I know the Attorney General and chambers are working to try to get the matters before Cabinet so that we can dispose of them,” Bradshaw told the House of Assembly as the Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment and Validation) Bill was debated and passed.
“But you have a number of personal injury matters that have been going on for decades and . . . it is quite startling to see how long someone has had to suffer, not just in relation to interim payments, but certainly in relation to the settlement of personal injury matters.”
The amendment was to permit interim payments to individuals with civil cases before the law courts.
Bradshaw, who noted that over the years, as an attorney, she dealt with personal injury claims brought by clients, said that “while we’ve passed the rules to be able to improve case management the truth is, that
there are these long outstanding cases that have had a significant impact on the very claimants that have been part of the legal case”.
“And I therefore would want to see going forward, that we are able to perhaps just pull all of the cases and let us see how quickly we can dispose of these matters because these people have their families, they have their lives that they want to get on with,” said the Minister of Transport and Works.
“It is very difficult when you see cases that have gone on for 10, 15, sometimes 20 years, coming before the Cabinet, circumstances that are very difficult sometimes to comprehend how that individual has been able to manage without the interim payments and without any kind of settlement.”
Bradshaw also felt that “personal injury matters are things that create additional public health issues”.
“It stops our productivity and I have seen this first hand in terms of people really dealing with these challenges and whatever we can do to create some level of urgency in being able to settle these matters, I would impress on the [Attorney General] and his team to be able to so do,” she said.
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