The High Court has found that a passenger injured in a 2017 crash knew before the journey that the driver had no insurance, allowing the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) to succeed on a preliminary issue in the case.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Bernard J. Barton on 30 October 2020, concerns a single-vehicle crash near Clonmellon, County Westmeath. The driver lost control of a car and struck a ditch. The passenger suffered serious injuries. The driver admitted liability, but had no driving licence or motor insurance.
The dispute was whether the passenger knew the car was uninsured when he travelled in it. Under clause 5.2 of the 2009 agreement between the Minister for Transport and MIBI, MIBI can avoid liability for a passenger’s claim if it proves the passenger knew there was no approved insurance policy. The judge said the test requires proof of actual knowledge; it is not enough that the passenger ought reasonably to have known.
The driver said that, before a trip from Waterford to a concert, he told the passengers he had no licence or insurance. The passenger denied that any such conversation took place and said he learned of the insurance issue at the crash scene. Two other passengers also disputed the driver’s account, although their recollections of the journey and the aftermath were uncertain or inconsistent.
The judge accepted the evidence of the Garda who attended the scene, finding that the injured occupants declined offers of medical assistance and left with the concert security manager. He rejected evidence that the passenger had been lying on the road screaming in pain. The judge considered the group’s conduct compatible with knowledge that the driver was unlicensed and uninsured, but said that circumstance alone did not determine the issue.
The judge also considered the witnesses’ credibility and the conflicting evidence about an email presented as having come from the driver. The unobscured version showed a different sender, and the driver denied authoring it. The judge said the possibility that it had been fabricated was not raised or tested at the hearing, and did not treat that possibility as a finding.
Ultimately, the judge accepted the driver’s evidence and found, on the balance of probabilities, that he had told the passengers before they set off that he had no licence or insurance. The passenger therefore knew the car was uninsured at the time of the crash. The court found for MIBI on the preliminary issue and said it would discuss the form of the orders with counsel. The judgment did not determine damages or set out the final orders. It also noted that the driver had signed a mandate agreeing to repay MIBI any sums it paid under a settlement or judgment.