Periodic Payment Orders – The Proposed Way Forward

Catastrophic injury award payment structures may change if proposed new legislation is introduced. Such legislation, if passed in current form, will give the courts the power to make periodic payments instead of lump-sum awards in such cases.

The proposals will be welcomed by practitioners who have, for years, acknowledged that lump sums can miss the mark of fair compensation and can fail to take into account a claimant's future personal circumstances, future investment returns and inflation rates.

The general scheme of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2015 recently published by the Department of Justice proposes giving the courts, in catastrophic injury cases, power to make periodic payment orders (PPOs) instead of the traditional lump sum.