What a personal injury case costs and who pays

Two sets of costs run through every personal injury claim: what your own solicitor charges, and what the other side's lawyers cost. Who ends up paying each depends on the route the claim takes and on how it ends. This guide sets out the rules, the figures that are published, and the two sections of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 that govern what a solicitor can charge and how it must be told to you.

Two kinds of cost

Your own costs are your solicitor's professional fee, any barrister's fee, and the outlays: medical reports, expert reports, court fees, stamp duty on documents. The other side's costs are the same items on the respondent's side, usually paid by its insurer as the claim goes along.

In a claim that ends at the Board neither side's legal costs are awarded against the other. In court, the general rule is that one side pays the other's. Three rules shift that from a date in the middle of the case, and each is explained below.

At the Board

The Board route is designed to run without a solicitor, and the Board says in terms that one is not needed. The costs are:

The guide on the application form, fee and documents covers the first three. The guide on claiming without a solicitor sets out what a solicitor's fee at this stage buys and when the Board's own FAQ answers the question.

In court: costs follow the event

Once an Authorisation issues and proceedings start, the ordinary civil rule applies. Costs follow the event: the side that loses pays the costs of the side that succeeds, as measured or agreed. A claimant who succeeds at hearing normally recovers most of their solicitor's and barrister's costs and the outlays from the defendant. A claimant who loses normally pays the defendant's.

"Most" matters. Costs recovered from the other side are measured on the scale of the court and on what was reasonably necessary; the difference between that and what your own solicitor charged is yours. The section 150 notice described below must warn you of this.

The court also matters: District Court costs are lower than Circuit Court costs, which are lower than High Court costs. The guide on the District, Circuit and High Courts sets out the €15,000 and €60,000 limits and what happens when a claim is brought in too high a court.

The lodgment and the tender

A defendant who thinks a claim is worth less than the claimant says can pay a sum into court. That is a lodgment. The claimant can take it in settlement within a set time. If the claimant refuses it and the court later awards the same or less, the claimant usually pays the defendant's costs from the date of the lodgment, and recovers their own only up to that date.

A tender under section 17 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 is a formal written offer of a sum in settlement with the same effect, without the money being paid into court. Both devices put a price on refusing a reasonable offer, and both are decided on the figures, so the Guidelines' bracket for an injury described like this is the yardstick on each side.

Section 51A after a rejected assessment

Section 51A of the 2003 Act, which applies to assessments rejected from 13 February 2023, adds a third rule of the same shape. Where you rejected a Board assessment the respondent had accepted, and the court awards no more than the Board did:

• no order for costs can be made in your favour, and
• the respondent is deemed to have tendered the assessed sum on the date it accepted, so you may be ordered to pay its costs from that date.

The court can disapply the deemed tender for special cause, and an actual lodgment or a later section 17 tender takes its place. The guide on rejecting an assessment and going to court sets out the rule with a table, and the accept-or-reject explainer shows it against the Board's figure and the Guidelines' bracket with dates.

The figures that are published

The Central Bank's National Claims Information Database (NCID, see the glossary) records what motor injury claims cost by channel. For claims settled in the first half of 2025:

The litigated claims took 4.7 years on average. In 2024, 16% of motor injury claims settled through the Board in 2.7 years and 36% through litigation in 5 years. These are averages across different claims, not a forecast for any one of them; the guide on the Central Bank's channel figures explains how to read them and the figures page carries them with their dates.

The €26,752 is the legal costs on the average litigated motor claim as the Central Bank records them. It is the clearest published measure of what a court case costs in legal fees, and it is nearly twice the Board's median award of €14,020 for 2025.

Section 149: no percentage fees

Section 149 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 provides that a solicitor may not charge costs in a personal injuries action calculated as a percentage or proportion of the damages. Every solicitor's advertisement about personal injuries must refer to that prohibition. The fee has to be set some other way: a fixed sum, an hourly rate, or a scale, agreed in writing.

A solicitor may agree not to charge their own professional fee if the claim does not succeed. That is lawful, but it cannot be advertised, it does not usually cover outlays, and it never covers the other side's costs. The chapter 5 guide on solicitor fees and section 149 explains the arrangement and why a solicitor's advertisement cannot describe it.

Section 150: the notice of costs

Section 150 of the same Act requires a solicitor, as soon as practicable after taking instructions, to give you a written notice setting out the costs, or where that is not possible the basis on which they will be calculated, together with an outline of the work, the likely outlays, and, in litigation, the likelihood of your having to pay the other side's costs and of recovering your own. The notice is updated if circumstances change. You are not bound until you have had it. If a solicitor has not given one, ask for it before the work starts; the Law Society's find a solicitor directory lists every practising solicitor.

Legal aid

Civil legal aid does not generally cover personal injury actions. The Legal Aid Board's civil legal aid page lists the matters it covers and the exclusions. That is one reason the Board route, which needs no solicitor, carries most claims, and why the fee agreement with a solicitor matters so much on the ones that go further.

Where this leaves you

At the Board the costs are the fee and the doctor's report, both recoverable. In court the costs follow the event, and a lodgment, a section 17 tender or section 51A can shift them from a date in the middle of the case. Section 149 rules out a percentage fee and section 150 requires the fee to be set out in writing first. The accept-or-reject explainer puts the Board's figure, the Guidelines' bracket and the costs exposure on one page so the figures can be read together.