Insurers should be required to immediately lower premiums following the passing of legislation significantly rebalancing the duty of care between occupiers and visitors, insurance reform campaigners have urged.
The legal changes concerning occupiers’ liability will mean “a fair allocation of personal responsibility across society”, according to the Alliance for Insurance Reform (AIR).
Welcoming the passage this week through the Houses of the Oireachtas of amendments as part of the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022, the group said they should be commenced quickly and “implemented fairly”.
“We expect the new rules regarding the voluntary assumption of risk to afford protection to a whole swathe of activities where risks are willingly accepted by people well able to comprehend the nature and extent of those risks,” AIR chief executive Brian Hanley said.
Flora Crowe, owner of a grocery store and a member of the AIR board, said that insurers, having previously highlighted the number of personal injury claims, average personal injury awards and insurance fraud as barriers to lower premiums, had in recent times highlighted the need to amend the duty of care as a condition for lower premiums.
“Now that this legislation has completed its progress through the Oireachtas, we expect incumbent insurers to deliver lower premiums immediately as the risk associated with every new or renewed policy has just reduced significantly.”
Mr Hanley said the Minister of State with responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance, Jennifer Carroll McNeill, gave an “unequivocal” response when asked earlier this year when policy holders could expect to see savings arising from the law changes.
The Minister had said, once the legislation was passed, there was “literally no excuse” and she would be “inviting the CEOs in here to have that very direct conversation with them again”, he said.
“We call on the Minister to make good on this promise without delay,” Mr Hanley said.
The reforms are part of the government’s Action Plan for Insurance Reform which included the introduction of guidelines slashing awards for minor personal injuries.
The specific proposals around duty of care follow recommendations from a review of legislation in Ireland and other common law jurisdictions, as well as relevant Irish case law.
When announcing the proposals in summer 2022, the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee said there was “a shared determination across Government to remove the impediment that high insurance costs have on our economy and communities”.
The proposals “strike the right balance between ensuring that businesses, community groups and organisers of events fulfil their duty of care responsibilities, while also acknowledging the importance of personal responsibility on the part of customers and members of the public”, she said.
The amendments insert into primary law some recent court decisions rebalancing the duty of care owed by occupiers to visitors and recreational users.
Under existing law, an occupier need only have had reasonable knowledge of a hazard to be considered to have acted with reckless disregard for a visitor or consumer.
An occupier will now only be considered to have acted with reckless disregard if they act recklessly in relation to a hazard.
The circumstances in which a court can impose liability on the occupier for injury suffered by a person who entered on to premises to commit an offence will be more limited.
A broader range of scenarios where it can be shown that a visitor or customer has voluntarily assumed a risk resulting in harm is also provided for.
Under existing law, there must be a written agreement in place for an occupier to be relieved of liability. The new measures mean an occupier may be relieved of liability without such a contract once they demonstrate they have not been reckless and the risks have been willingly accepted.
