Exaggerated claims delaying settlements, says Chief Justice

Personal injury lawyers are jeopardising timely settlements by demanding unrealistic sums, says Chief Justice Leslie Haynes.

Speaking at a Barbados Bar Association workshop on Friday, he urged practitioners to keep claims within reasonable bounds to avoid dragging cases out unnecessarily.

“If you, as a practitioner, do not understand the value of your claim, it is not going to settle,” Haynes cautioned.

“A claim comes in at $1.5 million, which is eventually settled to $60 000 or $70 000. And it takes five years to do that. Why? Because the claimant quantified the claim way beyond the average or scale.”

Recalling his time in practice, Haynes said exaggerated claims were easy to spot.

“I used to raise my eyebrows, roll my eyes, go for a drink of water, and throw the file aside for the simple reason that that file was not within the parameters of settlement and I knew that this one was going to take a long time because I would have to re-quantify and go from there.”

He said that failing to understand the realistic range of settlement not only delays resolution but unfairly prolongs hardship for injured clients.

“Liability is not in dispute, and the client is strung out there for the simple reason that you do not understand the range of settlement,” he said.

Haynes also flagged post-settlement delays, noting that some clients have to wait up to two months to receive their cheques from insurance companies.

“They tell you, ‘it’s in process’, and all of this time your client is starving and harassing you on the phone for the settlement. So, there are lots of things that need to be worked out.”

The two-day workshop, From Interview to Judgment: Winning Strategies in Personal Injury and Civil Practice, is hosted in collaboration with the General Insurance Association of Barbados at Sandals Royal. (JB)