The Court of Appeal reduced a damages award for a motorcyclist injured in a 2015 collision, substituting a total judgment of €98,574.55 for the High Court award. It allowed the defendant’s appeal against the amount of damages; liability had been admitted and was not at issue.
The plaintiff was riding along Main Street, Goresbridge, County Kilkenny, when the defendant’s car emerged from a side road and struck his motorcycle. The plaintiff fractured his left scaphoid, a wrist bone, and also suffered a cut over his eye. The fracture did not heal with casting, and he underwent surgery in September 2016, including fixation with a screw and a bone graft from his right hip area.
The fracture later healed in normal alignment. By the final medical review, the plaintiff had almost full wrist movement, with no swelling or tenderness, but reported pain with use and some limits on physical activities. The Court of Appeal noted that the injury was to his non-dominant wrist and that the medical evidence did not indicate likely degeneration. The plaintiff had been working in a desk job after hoping to pursue hands-on work in motorsport.
At trial, the High Court classified the wrist injury as a severe and permanent condition under the Book of Quantum and awarded €70,000 for the wrist, €40,000 for loss of career, €15,000 for lost hobbies and €30,000 for future pain and suffering. The judgment referred to a total of €175,000, but the Court of Appeal said the general damages total was €155,000 after correction. An agreed €8,574.55 in special damages was also included.
The Court of Appeal held that the High Court had applied the Book of Quantum incorrectly. It said the wrist injury fitted the “moderately severe” category, and that the guide’s range covered the damages for the injury as a whole. The court also said the effects on hobbies belonged within pain and suffering, rather than as a separate damages heading.
The appeal court set pain and suffering at €50,000 to date and €15,000 for the future. It added €25,000 for loss of job opportunity, taking account of the trial judge’s acceptance of the plaintiff’s evidence about work limitations and the defendant’s concession that vocational upset could be considered. General damages were set at €90,000, with the agreed special damages bringing the substituted judgment to €98,574.55.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and substituted that judgment for the High Court order. It directed that the plaintiff had 14 days to make written submissions on costs, with the defendant given the same period to respond.