The High Court allowed two personal injury proceedings arising from a fatal 2005 motorcycle crash to be consolidated, but ruled that the claim against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) could not proceed and should be struck out as statute-barred.
Mr Justice Feeney delivered judgment on 11 April 2011 in proceedings brought by Dermot Leonard against Mary Jane Leonard and the MIBI. Leonard had been a pillion passenger on a motorcycle driven by his twin brother, Paul Leonard, when it crossed onto the wrong side of the road and collided with an oncoming vehicle at Castleblaney, County Monaghan. Paul Leonard died and Dermot Leonard suffered serious injuries. The judgment says the motorcycle was uninsured.
The claim against Mary Jane Leonard was issued on 8 November 2007, within two years of the collision and Paul Leonard’s death. She was named as Paul Leonard’s personal representative, but had not yet received letters of administration. Those letters were granted on 3 November 2010. The MIBI argued that the claim was not maintainable because the defendant lacked authority to represent the estate when the proceedings began.
The judge considered two earlier High Court decisions that took different approaches to proceedings involving an estate before an administrator is appointed. He preferred the approach in *Gaffney v Vaughan*, holding that an administrator’s authority derives from the grant and that a later grant does not cure the defect where the person named as defendant was not competent to answer the claim when issued.
The court also noted that the plaintiff could have sought the appointment of an administrator under section 27(4) of the Succession Act 1965, but that procedure was not used. The judgment said no explanation for that choice was provided in the affidavits.
The MIBI had sought a preliminary determination on whether the proceedings were statute-barred and whether they were maintainable under its 2004 agreement. Leonard sought to consolidate the separate proceedings and amend the summons. The judge found the court had jurisdiction and discretion to consolidate, and granted that relief, citing the different time limits that had led to separate proceedings.
Despite allowing consolidation, the court concluded that the proceedings were not maintainable because the named defendant was not the estate’s personal representative when the claim was issued. It held the MIBI was entitled to proceed on the basis that the claim was statute-barred and ordered that the joined proceedings be struck out as against the MIBI. The judgment does not state that the claim against Mary Jane Leonard was struck out.