The Court of Appeal has reduced a personal injury award to Grace Cronin from €200,000 to €125,000, ruling that the High Court’s €180,000 award for pain and suffering was disproportionate to her injuries.
The appeal was brought by Emma Stevenson and Darren Russell against a High Court judgment made on 17 April 2015. Liability for the road traffic accident had been conceded, and the case at trial concerned the assessment of damages. The Court of Appeal delivered judgment on 22 June 2016.
Cronin was travelling in a taxi from Dublin Airport to her parents’ home in Templeogue in the early hours of 5 December 2007 when a vehicle driven by Stevenson collided head-on with it. The taxi was owned and driven by Russell. The High Court had awarded €100,000 for pain and suffering to the date of trial, €80,000 for future pain and suffering, and €20,000 in agreed special damages.
The Court of Appeal accepted the trial judge’s finding that Cronin was a credible witness and had experienced significant ongoing neck and shoulder symptoms. It noted that her injuries were mainly soft tissue injuries, with no structural damage shown in the scans. Her coccygeal pain had largely subsided by mid-2011. Her continuing neck and shoulder symptoms were managed with injections, medication and changes to her lifestyle; the medical evidence anticipated that injections might be needed for five to ten more years.
The appeal court also considered that Cronin continued working without time off after the accident, later taking up full-time work in South Korea, and that the injuries had restricted some of her social and physical activities. It said those circumstances were relevant to assessing the effect of the accident on her life as a whole.
The court concluded that the injuries were significant but not catastrophic, and that eventual recovery was expected, although it would take longer than usual for soft tissue injuries. It found the High Court’s general damages award excessive, including when assessed against the Book of Quantum and the wider range of personal injury awards.
The Court of Appeal set aside the High Court order and substituted total damages of €125,000: €75,000 for pain and suffering to date, €30,000 for future pain and suffering, and the agreed €20,000 in special damages. The judgment states that the High Court order was replaced with this award.