The Circuit Court has ordered the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) to pay €15,000 in agreed damages to a passenger injured when a waste disposal truck, driven without its owner’s authority, collided with the car in which he was travelling.
In a judgment delivered on 26 July 2024, Judge Jennifer O’Brien ruled that the truck owner, Padraig Thornton Waste Disposal Limited, trading as Thornton’s Recycling, could not be held liable for the driver’s criminal acts, even at the “1%” level argued in the case. The court held that the owner’s insurance did not cover the unauthorised use of the vehicle and that the 2009 MIBI agreement was intended to cover accidents involving stolen vehicles.
The collision happened on 11 October 2019 on Cloverhill Road, Ballyfermot. The plaintiff was lawfully travelling as a front-seat passenger when a truck driven by Thomas Greene came around a corner on the wrong side of the road and struck the car. The judgment says Greene was uninsured. The parties had agreed the plaintiff’s injury damages at €15,000, with costs, including reserved and discovery costs, to be taxed if not agreed. The dispute before the court was which defendant should pay.
Thornton’s argued that the truck had been stolen and Greene had no consent or authority to drive it. It said the MIBI agreement covered the circumstances. The MIBI argued that the truck’s insurance policy made the owner’s insurer responsible and that the Bureau was an insurer of last resort. Thornton’s disputed that there was valid insurance in place for the use at issue.
Judge O’Brien considered the Supreme Court’s decision in Breslin v Corcoran and MIBI v PMPA Insurance Company Limited. She concluded that the owner could not be treated as liable for the criminal acts of a person who stole the truck and then drove negligently. She also found that unauthorised use fell outside the scope of the insurance policy provided to Thornton’s, and rejected the argument that the MIBI could be liable only when no other insurance company was available.
The court entered the €15,000 decree and costs order for the plaintiff against the MIBI. It also ordered the MIBI to pay Thornton’s costs, to be taxed if not agreed. The judgment records that none of the co-defendants sought a decree against Greene.