asked the Minister for Justice if his attention has been drawn to the present situation whereby a claimant on car insurance is not obliged to allow assessments by the person against whom he is claiming, if he accepts that this could lead to inflated and artificial claims, and that the people against whom such claims are made should be enabled to see the alleged extent of damage caused, and if he proposes to initiate the necessary legislative changes to enable a person against whom the claim was made to obtain written details of the alleged damage.
Written Answers. - Car Insurance Claimants.
287.
Under the ordinary law governing civil liability for damage, the onus is on the plaintiff to prove his loss. If, in the matter of the provision of details of damage caused in traffic accidents, the law were operating unfairly against defendants, who as the question recognises are in practice usually insurance companies, I would have expected the companies to have made representations in the matter. I have received no such representations. I could not, of course, undertake to accede to such representations if I were to receive them, as there are several factors to be taken into account, but such representations from any source would be considered on their merits.