The High Court awarded a woman €46,808.29 after finding that a driver’s denial of responsibility for a 2001 collision, following an apology and assurances that he would compensate her, caused additional distress.
In a judgment delivered on 22 April 2005, O’Sullivan J. awarded €25,000 for pain and suffering to the date of the hearing, €10,000 for future pain and suffering, €10,000 in aggravated damages and €1,808.29 in agreed special damages. The judgment gives the plaintiff’s name, but this draft preserves anonymisation.
The court heard that the plaintiff’s car was struck from behind on 21 July 2001 as she drove towards Ballyshannon. Her evidence was that the driver apologised at the scene, said he had pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, and told her they could sort things out without police involvement. She later visited his home, where he said he would “see her right”. The judgment records that no resolution followed.
The plaintiff said she continued to experience neck and back pain, stiffness, headaches and numbness in both hands. She returned to her bakery cleaning job within two weeks, but reduced her workload from five shifts a week to three in the autumn of 2001 and had remained at that level. Her consultant physician and rheumatologist, Dr Dominic Cooke, linked her ongoing symptoms to soft-tissue injuries and nerve irritation associated with cervical disc degeneration aggravated by the collision. He considered her symptoms likely to be prolonged.
The aggravated damages claim concerned the defence of the case. The judge considered a letter from the driver denying knowledge of the accident and referring to the plaintiff having “drink taken” when she visited his home. The plaintiff testified that learning of the letter caused stress and hurt because she understood it as accusing her of fabricating the collision. The defence also maintained that the accident had not occurred, despite the plaintiff’s lawyers providing a list of three independent witnesses, and opposed discovery while the plaintiff had not identified the car by affidavit.
The driver’s counsel argued that putting a plaintiff to proof was ordinary litigation practice and did not warrant aggravated damages. The judge reviewed authorities on the issue and held that the conduct in this case fell within the recognised category of a wrongdoer’s conduct in defending a claim. He found the denial, after the driver had apologised and promised to compensate her, had added distress and humiliation beyond the injuries themselves.
The court therefore made an award of aggravated damages and entered a total decree of €46,808.29. The judgment does not specify a costs order.