Malicious Injuries Act, 1981

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Recovery from successful applicant in certain circumstances.

[New]

19.—(1) (a) Where—

(i) compensation has been awarded under this Act, and

(ii) there has been or there is subsequently paid in respect of the damage or loss concerned, by way of such compensation or reparation as is mentioned in section 12 (3) (c), any sum which was not taken into account under that provision at the time of the making of the award,

the person receiving such sum shall forthwith notify the local authority concerned and shall, subject to subsection (2), forthwith reimburse to the local authority the amount of the compensation awarded, if that amount is equal to or less than that sum, or an amount equal to that sum if the amount of the compensation is greater than that sum.

(b) Where compensation has been awarded and the court has ordered that it be paid out of the funds of two or more local authorities, each of them shall be notified under and in accordance with paragraph (a) and the amounts to be reimbursed to them under and in accordance with that paragraph shall be in the same proportions, respectively, as were ordered by the court when making the award.

(2) Where compensation has been awarded under this Act and civil proceedings have been or are subsequently instituted in any court against the person who caused the damage or loss concerned in respect of the act which gave rise to the application for compensation, and

(a) the court awards damages against that person in favour of the plaintiff in the proceedings, or

(b) the parties agree to settle the proceedings in consideration of the payment by that person to or for the benefit of the plaintiff in the proceedings of an agreed amount of damages,

the court may order that person to pay the damages so awarded or agreed, or any part thereof, into court.

(3) Where the court makes an order under subsection (2), it shall direct—

(a) the payment to any local authority concerned out of any money paid into court under the order of the court of such amount as would have been reimbursed to such local authority under subsection (1), if that money had been paid to the applicant for compensation, and

(b) that the balance, if any, of the money paid into court under subsection (2) shall be paid to the applicant for compensation or otherwise dealt with for his benefit in such manner as the court considers proper,

and any amount so paid to a local authority by virtue of the direction of the court shall be deemed to have been paid under subsection (1).

(4) (a) Where, on an application to the court by a local authority, the court is satisfied that—

(i) the local authority has paid compensation on foot of an award under this Act to any person, and

(ii) that person failed to make full and true disclosure of all the facts material to the determination of the application for compensation concerned,

the court may make an order requiring that person to reimburse to the local authority the amount of the compensation or such part thereof as the court may direct, together with any costs paid by the local authority in the original proceedings.

(b) In paragraph (a) “the court” means the court that made the award of compensation.

(5) Subsections (1), (2) and (4) shall have effect in relation to a claim which is settled under section 16 (1) as if the settlement were an award of compensation under this Act.

(6) Any sum required to be reimbursed under subsection (1) or (4) and which is not reimbursed shall be recoverable by the local authority concerned as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(7) (a) Any person who is required by subsection (1), or by that subsection as applied by subsection (5), to notify a local authority of the receipt of any sum by way of compensation or reparation and fails to do so without reasonable cause shall, without prejudice to his liability under that subsection to reimburse any sum to the local authority, be guilty of an offence and shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding £500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

(b) (i) Where an offence under paragraph (a) which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(ii) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subparagraph (i) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.