The High Court awarded Elaine Shortall €75,900 in damages after finding that a 2014 car park collision caused lasting irritation of a nerve in her right arm. Liability for the accident had been admitted, so the case concerned the assessment of damages.
Mr Justice Bernard Barton said the collision occurred in the car park of the Omni Shopping Centre in Santry, Dublin 9, on 4 February 2014. Ms Shortall was leaving the centre after shopping with her mother when her car collided with a vehicle driven by Tara Acton. The judgment records that the impact pushed Ms Shortall’s car sideways into another traffic lane. She injured her right wrist and thumb, and struck her right elbow against the driver’s door.
The wrist and thumb injuries settled over about three months. The dispute at trial focused on whether the collision caused the later tightness in Ms Shortall’s forearm and pins and needles in the ring and little fingers of her right hand. The defendant relied on gaps in the GP notes and medical evidence that the symptoms might have arisen spontaneously.
The judge accepted Ms Shortall’s evidence that she had raised the elbow and arm symptoms during GP visits, and accepted her doctor’s explanation that not every complaint was recorded, particularly when visits concerned other conditions or her children. He preferred the plaintiff’s orthopaedic surgeon’s explanation that the original elbow injury left scar tissue that irritated the ulnar nerve as it moved. The court found the ongoing condition was caused by the accident.
The judge accepted medical evidence that the nerve irritation was permanent, unlikely to worsen, and not treatable by surgery. It was not disabling, but caused discomfort and affected activities involving repeated elbow movement. Ms Shortall had adapted by favouring her left arm.
The court did not find that Ms Shortall had PTSD caused by the accident. The psychiatrist who diagnosed PTSD had not known about relevant aspects of her medical history, including a prior road accident and past postnatal depression. The judge gave his evidence limited assistance. However, the court accepted that the collision caused shock and distress, followed by nervousness and anxiety that remained to some extent. It assessed damages on the basis that counselling would substantially reduce or resolve those symptoms.
The award comprised €45,000 for pain and suffering to date, €30,000 for future pain and suffering, €400 in agreed special damages, and €500 for future counselling. The court ordered payment of those sums, totalling €75,900.