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GAZETTE
JULY-AUGUST
1978
Law Society Notes
The Provision of Medical Certificates
Meetings were held recently between representatives of
the Council of the Law Society and of the Federation of
Insurers of Ireland, with a view to reaching agreement on
procedures which would have the effect of minimising the
cost incurred in obtaining medical reports and the costs
and difficulty in procuring the attendance of medical
witnesses at the trial of personal injury actions. Arising
out of these meetings, the Society recommends to its
members the adoption of the following procedures which
have the approval of the Federation of Insurers of
Ireland, viz.:
1. The Plaintiffs solicitor will furnish to the Defendant's
solicitors or Insurers, on a strictly Without Prejudice
basis, copies of all his client's medical reports for
consideration. These may be adopted on behalf of the
Defendant and render independent examinations
unnecessary.
2. If no reports are available or made available,
independent examination will proceed, by agreement
without the Plaintiffs doctor or surgeon in attendance,
otherwise in the ordinary way. copies of the ensuing
report or reports being made available to the Plaintiffs
solicitor, again on a Without Prejudice basis.
3. Each party should endeavour, where possible, to agree
to the admission of the other party's medical reports in
evidence at the trial of the action.
4.
Where no agreement is reached, each party may call
medical evidence on its own behalf in the usual way.
While the Society hopes that whenever possible the
foregoing procedure will be adopted, whether or not it is
. adopted is at the discretion of the solicitor for the parties
and subject to the consent of their clients in any particular
case.
Revenue Stamps
The Society has been informed that adhesive stamps
will be available shortly for the newly prescribed
amounts. However, it will be a considerable time before
the dies for the impressed stamps will be available.
Town Agents have drawn the attention of the Society
to the fact that the use of adhesive stamps on a large scale
is both troublesome and time-consuming. In the
circumstances, it has been suggested that solicitors who
"have a large volume of court work should provide
themselves with a slock of the most usual forms stamped
in advance in blank. There is provision in Dublin Castle
for stamping blank forms. Such stamped forms might
then be forwarded to the Town Agent as the need arose.
Council Dinner
The Annual Dinner of the Council of the Society was held
in the Lecture Room of Blackhall Place on Thursday,
30th March, 1978.
The President, Mr. Joseph L. Dundon, received the
150 guests. The guests included the Minister for Finance,
(Mr. George Collcy, T.D.), the Minister for Industry,
Commerce and Energy (Mr. Desmond O'Malley, T.D.),
the Chief Justice (The Hon. T. F. O'Higgins), Mr. Justice
Walsh, Mr. Justice Henchy, Mr. Justice Griffin, Mr.
Justice Kenny, Mr. Justice D'Arcy, Mr. Justice Costello,
Judge Buchanan, Judge Clarke, Judge Conroy, Judge
O'Connor, the President of the District Court (Justice
O'Floinn), Senator Patrick Cooney (former Minister for
Justice), Mr. Richie Ryan, T.D. (former Minister for
Finance), the President of the Incorporated Law Society
of Northern Ireland (Miss Thomasina McKinnev), the
President of the Southern Law Association (Mr. John^
Jermyn), the President of the Dublin Solicitors' Bar
Association (Mr. Thomas Jackson), the Master of the
High Court (Mr. Patrick Lindsay), the Commissioner of
the Garda (Mr. Patrick McLaughlin), Professor Edward
Ryan (University College, Cork), Professor Kevin Boyle
(University College, Galway), and the Director of Public
Prosecutions (Mr. Eamonn Barnes).
The toast of "Our Guests" was proposed by Mrs.
Moya Quinlan, Vice-President and responded to by Mr.
Justice Costello. The toast of the Society was proposed
by Mr. George Colley, T.D., and responded to by the
President.
Valuation for compensation
is our business
O s b o r n o K i n g &
M e g r a n
Dublin 760251
Cork 21371
*
Galway 65261