Medical Negligence Cases

Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Questions (717)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

717. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Health the amount paid in legal costs to each of the top ten named legal firms representing plaintiffs in medical negligence cases in 2019; the number of cases the payments relate to in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40104/20]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

The State Claims Agency (SCA) has a statutory remit to manage personal injury claims on behalf of Delegated State Authorities including the Health Service Executive.

I have been informed by the SCA that:

- The information contained in this report has been extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

- Medical negligence claims are identified on NIMS through the Incident / Hazard Category of Clinical Care. This report relates to Clinical Care claims being managed by the SCA on behalf of the HSE.

- Plaintiff legal costs relate to the payment made to the Plaintiff’s legal team i.e. Solicitors and Counsel and are also inclusive of expert fees which are discharged by the Plaintiff’s solicitor. These expert fees may relate to actuarial, engineering, medical, witness fees etc.

Criteria used

- The table below shows the top 10 named Legal firms representing plaintiff legal costs made in relation to Clinical Care claims in 2019 with highest paid totals.

- This report is correct as of 31/10/2020

Payee	Amount Paid	No. of Claims
Augustus Cullen Law Solicitors	€4,214,873	24
Callan Tansey Solicitors	€3,636,512	27
Michael Boylan Litigation Law Firm	€3,348,019	9
Cian O' Carroll Solicitors	€3,163,787	20
Cantillons Solicitors	€2,615,030	13
Orpen Franks Solicitors	€1,200,621	7
Damien Tansey Solicitors	€1,116,676	12
Kent Carty Solicitors	€983,583	6
James O'Brien & Co. Solicitors	€949,642	5
Lavelle Solicitors	€865,018	7