The Supreme Court set aside a High Court order in a personal injury case arising from a passenger’s fall on a Dublin Bus vehicle, assessed damages at £90,000 and awarded Siwsan Shelley-Morris £45,000 after finding her and the bus operator equally negligent.
In a judgment delivered on 11 December 2002, Denham J. said the High Court had been entitled to find that the bus jerked forward as Shelley-Morris climbed the stairs while carrying her two-year-old daughter. The trial judge had accepted passenger Trudy Conlon’s evidence corroborating Shelley-Morris’s account and rejected the driver’s denial that the bus moved off abruptly.
The Supreme Court upheld the finding that Shelley-Morris deliberately exaggerated some symptoms. It said her evidence about the extent of her ongoing disability and ability to work was not credible, and that she had not proved a basis for future loss of earnings or pension and gratuity. The judgment noted that the medical reports and video evidence showed a significant knee injury, followed by a good recovery, with arthritis causing pain and some restriction of movement.
The Court upheld the High Court’s £70,000 award for pain and suffering to the date of trial, but reduced the award for future pain and suffering from £40,000 to £20,000. It removed the £37,500 for loss of pension and gratuity and £25,000 for future loss of earnings. These changes produced a total damages assessment of £90,000.
The Court also increased Shelley-Morris’s share of responsibility from 25% to 50%. Denham J. said the circumstances included the bus’s fast and jerky driving, her decision to climb the stairs while it was travelling, the child’s age and weight, and her high-heeled footwear. The remaining 50% was attributed to Dublin Bus.
The judgment raised whether deliberate exaggeration could amount to an abuse of court process, but said the issue had not been put to a witness or addressed by counsel. The Court made no finding on abuse of process. After the equal apportionment, it ordered that Shelley-Morris was entitled to £45,000.