Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004

Bringing of proceedings.

10

10.—(1) Proceedings in the High Court, Circuit Court or District Court, in respect of a personal injuries action, shall be commenced by a summons to be known as and referred to in this Act as a “personal injuries summons”.

(2) A personal injuries summons shall specify—

(a) the plaintiff's name, the address at which he or she ordinarily resides and his or her occupation,

(b) the personal public service number allocated and issued to the plaintiff under section 223 (inserted by section 14 of the Act of 1998) of the Act of 1993,

(c) the defendant's name, the address at which he or she ordinarily resides (if known to the plaintiff) and his or her occupation (if known to the plaintiff),

(d) the injuries to the plaintiff alleged to have been occasioned by the wrong of the defendant,

(e) full particulars of all items of special damage in respect of which the plaintiff is making a claim,

(f) full particulars of the acts of the defendant constituting the said wrong and the circumstances relating to the commission of the said wrong,

(g) full particulars of each instance of negligence by the defendant.

(3) Where a plaintiff fails to comply with this section—

(a) the court may—

(i) direct that the action shall not proceed any further until the plaintiff complies with such conditions as the court may specify, or

(ii) where it considers that the interests of justice so require, dismiss the plaintiff's action,

and

(b) the court shall take such failure into account when deciding whether to make an order as to the payment of the costs of the personal injuries action concerned, or the amount of such costs.

(4) Where a plaintiff fails to comply with this section, the court hearing the personal injuries action concerned may draw such inferences from the failure as appear proper.

Annotations:

Modifications (not altering text):

C4

For purposes of certain proceedings, subss. (1), (2) to be construed as provided (10.04.2023) by Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 2022 (33/2022), s. 24(2)(c), (d), S.I. No. 163 of 2023.

Additional provisions regarding proceedings

24. (1) The proceedings referred to in section 23 shall, subject to this Act and the Act of 2003 as applied by section 19 and with any necessary modifications, be deemed to be a personal injuries action for the purposes of any enactments relating in whole or in part to personal injuries actions (including the Act of 2004) and shall be treated as if they were a personal injuries action within the meaning of those enactments, including for the purposes of costs.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Act of 2004 shall apply to the proceedings referred to in section 23 with the following modifications: ...

(c) section 10(1) of the Act of 2004 shall be read as follows:

(1) Proceedings in the High Court, Circuit Court or District Court, in respect of a personal injuries action involving proceedings under section 23 of the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 2022, shall be commenced by a summons to be known as and referred to in this Act as a ‘Garda compensation personal injuries summons’.

(d) section 10(2) of the Act of 2004 shall be read as follows:

(2) A Garda compensation personal injuries summons shall specify—

(a) the plaintiff’s name, the address at which he or she ordinarily resides and his or her occupation,

(b) the personal public service number allocated and issued to the plaintiff under section 223 (inserted by section 14 of the Act of 1998) of the Act of 1993,

(c) the defendant’s name and his or her occupation,

(d) the injuries or death alleged to have been occasioned by the malicious incident,

(e) full particulars of all items of special damage in respect of which the plaintiff is making a claim,

(f) full particulars of the malicious incident, and

(g) in the case of proceedings brought by one or more persons to whom section 8 (2)(b) of the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 2022 refers, full particulars of the applicability of that section to each person by whom or for whose benefit the proceedings are brought.

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