The High Court awarded €8,000 in damages to Caroline Hamill for soft tissue injuries from a 2012 collision at a petrol station in Forkhill, finding that the injuries would have cleared within 12 months. It found that her later, continuing neck and back problems were not caused by the accident.
Mr Justice Michael White gave judgment on 30 July 2015 after a hearing in Dundalk over three days in June. Hamill had sought personal injury damages from Siobhan O’Callaghan, whose car reversed into Hamill’s stationary vehicle. The judgment does not state a final total including special damages: those were allowed subject to clarification for the court.
The collision’s severity was disputed. Hamill said the impact jolted her; O’Callaghan said she reversed slowly and barely felt it. The judge said O’Callaghan’s evidence about the impact could not be relied on after her account of her friendship with a witness was undermined on a collateral issue.
The judge found, on the balance of probabilities, that the impact could have been strong enough to cause soft tissue injuries, despite the minor damage to the vehicles. He accepted evidence that flexible bumpers can sustain relatively severe impacts with little visible damage. He also described the collision as very minor and noted that Hamill was not wearing a seatbelt.
Medical evidence included reports of neck and lower back pain, pre-existing degenerative changes on MRI scans, and a history of symptoms after an earlier road traffic accident. The scans from 2012 and 2014 showed no change. The judge preferred the evidence of the defendant’s medical expert and found that Hamill suffered some soft tissue injuries, but that her continuing complaints were not connected to this collision. He found no future loss.
O’Callaghan asked the court to dismiss the action under section 26 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004, alleging that Hamill had given false or misleading evidence. The judge declined to apply the section, finding that the defendant had not established its requirements. He said Hamill’s credibility had nevertheless been damaged by attributing symptoms to the accident that, in his view, were unrelated.
The judge also said the case should not have been brought in the High Court because the appropriate damages were within the Circuit Court’s jurisdiction. He assessed historic personal injury damages at €8,000 and allowed special damages, which still required clarification.