The Court of Appeal has reduced a personal injury award from €96,758 to €55,062 after finding that the High Court’s assessment of a shoulder injury and headaches was not supported by the evidence in several respects.
The appeal concerned damages only. Liability had been admitted after a lorry struck Derek Coughlan’s stationary car on Malahide Road, Dublin, on 13 August 2020. The High Court had awarded €90,000 in general damages and €6,758 in special damages. The Court of Appeal allowed the defendants’ appeal and substituted a decree for €55,062.
The main injury was a rotator cuff tear in Mr Coughlan’s right shoulder. The High Court had classified it as a serious injury with persisting symptoms despite surgery and awarded €75,000. The appeal court said that category did not fit because Mr Coughlan had not undergone surgery, and the evidence did not establish that he would probably need it. The orthopaedic evidence described surgery as a possible next step if injection treatment and physiotherapy proved unsuccessful and symptoms remained significant.
The appeal court noted that Mr Coughlan had one shoulder injection in January 2023 and did not return to the treating orthopaedic surgeon for reassessment. A later examination by his GP found nearly full shoulder movement, although pain remained at the extremes. The court said it was therefore uncertain whether surgery would be advised. It assessed the shoulder injury at €40,000, describing that as the upper end or slightly above the moderate level, or the very bottom of the serious level in the Personal Injuries Guidelines.
The High Court had also treated Mr Coughlan’s headaches as a separate head injury and considered €30,000 an appropriate standalone award. The appeal court found the evidence about the headaches inconsistent and noted that the medical evidence did not establish brain damage. It concluded that the headaches were more properly assessed as a possible consequence of the neck injury, rather than under the Guidelines’ head injury section. It did not separately increase the damages for the headaches, neck, wrist and chest injuries, finding no basis to interfere with the High Court’s combined €15,000 award for those injuries.
The High Court’s special damages included €6,696 for anticipated shoulder surgery. As the court found no evidential basis to conclude that surgery would probably be required, it removed that amount. The remaining €62 in special damages, together with €55,000 in general damages, made the substituted award.
The Court of Appeal directed the defendants to file written submissions on costs within 14 days, with the plaintiff allowed a similar period to respond. The judgment was delivered on 16 April 2024.