The High Court increased compensation for K. B.’s loss-of-opportunity claim from €155,000 to €255,000, finding that her father’s illness and death derailed her aim of becoming a veterinary surgeon. It also raised her loss-of-society award from €90,000 to €100,000 and left an €85,000 award for post-traumatic stress disorder unchanged.
The appeal concerned a July 2018 decision of the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal. The court heard it afresh under the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal Acts. Causation was not disputed. The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Bernard J. Barton on 18 October 2019, said the central dispute concerned the amount for loss of opportunity.
K. B.’s father had severe haemophilia A and received blood and blood products, including factor VIII. He contracted hepatitis C and HIV through that route and died in August 2008. The judgment said hepatitis C was a significant contributor to his death. K. B. was born in March 1983.
The court accepted that K. B.’s first-choice career was veterinary medicine and found that her father’s illness and death had “blew her off course”. She scored 450 points in her Leaving Certificate, about 100 points below what was required for a place in veterinary medicine. The judge found her academic underperformance was attributable to the emotional upheaval of learning about her father’s illness and accepted expert evidence that she had the capacity to qualify as a veterinary surgeon.
K. B. later completed a science degree, travelled and worked abroad, and studied veterinary nursing. The court rejected the Minister’s submission that her decision not to pursue veterinary medicine reflected a personal choice unrelated to her father’s death. It also took account of her stated intention to pursue veterinary medicine in the future when assessing her likely career and the claim for pecuniary loss.
An actuary’s figures, submitted to assist the court, estimated an earnings difference between veterinary nursing and veterinary surgery with a capital value of €600,000 to just over €900,000, before certain contingencies. K. B.’s claim was for general compensation for lost opportunity, rather than a capitalised earnings loss. The court said the Tribunal’s €155,000 award fell considerably short of a fair and reasonable amount and substituted €255,000.
The court also substituted €100,000 for loss of society, which it considered fair and reasonable in the circumstances. It did not disturb the PTSD award. The appeal was allowed, with the two awards varied and the other terms of the Tribunal’s orders affirmed.