The High Court has refused BMW Automotive (Ireland) Ltd’s application to set aside third-party proceedings brought against it in a fatal motorcycle accident case. Ms Justice Creedon found that the defendants had served the notice as soon as was reasonably possible and left in place the order joining three third parties to the action.
The application concerned proceedings brought by Janet Acheson following the death of Dr John Hinds. He was the appointed mobile medical assistant for the Skerries 100 Road Race. He was fatally injured during a practice session on 3 July 2015, the day before the race was due to begin, and died the following day.
A personal injuries summons was issued on 1 December 2017 and served on the two defendants, Loughshinny Motorcycle Supporters Club Ltd and Motorcycle Union of Ireland (Southern Centre) Ltd, on 5 December 2017. They delivered their defence on 30 January 2019. Their motion to join BMW and two Kearys companies as third parties was issued on 27 March 2019. The High Court joined them by order dated 20 May 2019.
BMW argued that the notice was late under the Rules of the Superior Courts and had not been served as soon as reasonably possible under the Civil Liability Act 1961. It said the defendants already had enough information to consider a contribution claim, including the summons and inspections of the motorcycle. The defendants said they were awaiting further forensic examination and data, and argued that the circumstances justified the timing of their application.
The parties disputed what had been agreed when the motorcycle was released to BMW in July 2015. The defendants said BMW had agreed to conduct specialist testing and provide technical data; BMW denied that agreement. The judge said the affidavit evidence did not allow the court to resolve that dispute within this application.
In assessing the delay, the court considered the wider chronology, including the BMW technicians’ August 2015 inspection, the defendants’ engineer’s visual inspections in 2016, requests for further particulars from the plaintiff in 2018, and the defendants’ eventual motion. The judge found it reasonable for the defendants to await further information and concluded that the third-party notice had been served as soon as reasonably possible.
The court therefore refused BMW’s application to set aside the third-party proceedings or the 20 May 2019 joinder order. It did not determine liability for the accident or the underlying claims. The costs of BMW’s application were reserved to the hearing of the action, subject to any submissions on costs.