District, Circuit or High Court: which court hears a personal injury case

A personal injury claim that goes beyond the Board ends up in one of three courts. Which one depends on what the claim is reasonably worth, and the choice has consequences for costs, for the procedure and for how long you wait. This guide sets out the limits and the steps, so that the words on a solicitor's letter mean something when they arrive.

The three limits

The 2013 Act raised the District Court's limit to €15,000 and set the Circuit Court's personal injury limit at €60,000, lower than the Circuit Court's general civil limit. These figures are the position at 14 October 2026; the changes page records any movement.

The limit is the most a court can award in general and special damages together. A claim pleaded in the Circuit Court cannot recover more than €60,000 there even if the evidence at hearing would have justified more.

How the court is chosen

Nobody picks a court for prestige. The claim is issued in the court whose limit covers what is sought, and what is sought is built from two parts:

• General damages: the Guidelines' bracket for an injury described like this, which the injury checker shows and the guide on the Personal Injuries Guidelines explains.
• Special damages: vouched loss of earnings, treatment, travel and care, listed in the special damages guide.

If the two together sit under €15,000, the District Court. Between €15,000 and €60,000, the Circuit Court. Above that, the High Court. A solicitor makes this call on the medical report and the vouched figures, and it is one of the main reasons a solicitor is used at this stage.

Pitching too high has a cost. The Courts Acts allow a court to limit the costs a successful claimant recovers to the scale of the court the award would have fitted in, so a High Court action that produces a Circuit Court award can leave the claimant carrying the difference in costs. Pitching too low caps the award at the limit. The Guidelines, which the Board and the courts both use, have made the call more predictable than it was under the Book of Quantum.

The personal injuries summons

A personal injury action starts with a personal injuries summons, a document the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 requires in every personal injuries action. It must set out:

• your name, address and occupation, and the defendant's;
• the injuries alleged to have been caused by the defendant's wrong;
• full particulars of the acts of the defendant said to constitute the wrong;
• full particulars of each item of special damage;
• the date and number of the Board's Authorisation, without which the summons cannot issue (section 12 of the 2003 Act).

The defendant replies with a defence, which must also give particulars: whether liability is denied, whether contributory negligence is alleged, and on what facts. The guide on rejecting an assessment and going to court explains why those lines of defence matter.

The verifying affidavit

Section 14 of the 2004 Act requires a claimant to swear an affidavit verifying the summons and any replies to particulars. The affidavit is sworn within 21 days of the pleading it verifies, and it is the point at which the claim becomes your sworn evidence rather than a solicitor's draft.

The Act attaches two consequences to that oath. Under section 25 it is an offence to give evidence, in an affidavit or at the hearing, that is false or misleading in a material respect, knowing it to be so. Under section 26 the court must dismiss an action where it finds the claimant did that, unless dismissal would cause injustice. The chapter 9 guide on exaggerated and false claims sets out the law in full. The practical point for a claimant is simple: the affidavit describes the injury as it is, no more.

The Guidelines in evidence

The Judicial Council Act 2019 amended the 2004 Act so that a court assessing damages in a personal injuries action must have regard to the Personal Injuries Guidelines, and where it departs from them must state its reasons. The Board applies the same Guidelines under section 20 of the 2003 Act. That is why the Board's figure and a court's figure start from the same brackets, and why section 51A of the 2003 Act, the costs rule where a court awards no more than a rejected assessment, matters in practice.

In court the Guidelines are applied to evidence tested in a hearing: your own evidence, your treating doctor's report, a report from a doctor the defendant instructs, and sometimes an expert on earnings or care. The judge places the injury in a bracket and then at a point within it, and then adds the special damages proved. The accept-or-reject explainer shows the Board's figure next to the bracket.

Every bracket is the 2021 figure. The Judicial Council approved a 16.7% increase in December 2024, but it needs a positive resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas and none has been moved; the changes page tracks it.

Costs by court

The general rule in civil cases is that costs follow the event: the side that loses pays the costs of the side that succeeds, measured on the scale of the court the case was heard in. High Court costs are higher than Circuit Court costs, which are higher than District Court costs, because the work and the fees scale with the court. Three rules cut across that:

• Section 51A of the 2003 Act, where the court awards no more than an assessment the respondent accepted: no costs order in the claimant's favour, and the respondent's costs from its acceptance date may fall on the claimant.
• A lodgment or a section 17 tender: where the defendant has paid a sum into court or made a formal offer and the award does not beat it, the claimant usually pays the defendant's costs from the date of the lodgment or offer.
• The scale rule above, where the claim was brought in too high a court.

The guide on what a case costs and who pays works through each with figures. A solicitor's own fee cannot be a percentage of the award (section 149 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015) and must be set out in a section 150 notice before the work starts.

The wait

The Central Bank's National Claims Information Database (NCID, see the glossary) puts litigated motor injury claims settled in the first half of 2025 at 4.7 years on average from accident to settlement, and litigated claims in 2024 at 5 years against 2.7 years through the Board. The figures page carries both with their dates.

The wait is not all court time. It includes the Board stage, the pleadings, the exchange of medical reports and, in a contested case, waiting for a hearing date in the relevant venue. The Courts Service publishes waiting times by court and venue. Many litigated claims settle before the hearing, often once both sides' medical evidence is exchanged.

Where this leaves you

The court is chosen by the figure the evidence supports: €15,000, €60,000 and above. From there the procedure is fixed by the 2004 Act, the figure by the Guidelines, and the costs by the event, by any lodgment and by section 51A. The accept-or-reject explainer puts the Board's figure, the bracket and the costs exposure on one page. Choosing a court and pleading a claim is work a solicitor does; this is a point where a solicitor is plainly the right step.