The High Court ruled that the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) was not liable for damage to a car involved in a 1996 collision because the claimant had not sent the Bureau written notice of his intention to seek compensation within one year of the accident.
Mr Justice McCracken delivered judgment on 18 March 2005 in an appeal concerning the €4,495 vehicle-damage award made by the Circuit Court. The High Court had already reduced the general damages award from €30,000 to €20,000 and confirmed €150 in special damages. The vehicle-damage sum was agreed; the issue left for decision was whether the MIBI agreement required the Bureau to pay it.
The plaintiff was driving near Newmarket on Fergus, County Clare, on 8 December 1996 when another vehicle struck his car from behind and left the scene. A damaged car owned by the first defendant was later found in a lay-by. The MIBI accepted that it had struck the plaintiff’s car. The first defendant maintained that his car had been stolen. His insurers did not repudiate liability until 18 May 1998, after the one-year notice period for property damage had expired.
The plaintiff’s solicitors sent the MIBI registered-post notice on 21 May 1998 that proceedings would be brought. Proceedings were issued in the Circuit Court in December 1999. The Circuit Court dismissed the case against the first and second defendants and awarded damages against the MIBI. On appeal, the plaintiff accepted that neither he nor his lawyers had given the Bureau the required notice of an intention to claim for the car damage within the year. He argued that notice to the first defendant’s insurers should suffice, relying on a separate clause about notice of proceedings and on a purposive reading of the agreement.
The judge rejected that argument. He found that the agreement required two distinct notices: timely notice to the MIBI of an intention to seek compensation, and notice of proceedings where proceedings were to be issued. The latter could be given to an insurer in certain circumstances, but that did not change who had to receive the first notice. The judge also held that the European directive underlying the agreement did not prevent the agreement from setting notification deadlines.
The High Court concluded that notice of an intention to seek compensation for property damage had to be given to the MIBI within 12 months. Because it was not, the Bureau was not liable for the car damage. The judgment addressed that issue only; it did not disturb the previously confirmed personal-injury and special-damages amounts.