The High Court dismissed the proceedings against Monaghan County Council after finding that the plaintiff had joined the Council without first obtaining authorisation from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB).
In a judgment delivered on 15 May 2012, Mr Justice Hedigan ruled that the Council’s joinder amounted to new proceedings for the purposes of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003. Because no PIAB authorisation had been obtained, the court said it had no jurisdiction to entertain the claim against the Council.
The plaintiff’s original proceedings against the North Eastern Health Board began by plenary summons on 19 February 2004. The claim arose from an alleged assault in 1963, when the plaintiff was a patient at Monaghan General Hospital. The plaintiff later joined Monaghan County Council as a co-defendant, asserting that it had been the hospital’s owner, operator, occupier and manager. The judgment gives differing dates for that joinder: it says the Council was joined on 9 November 2009, while later describing the application as made in 2008.
The Council asked the court to strike out the claim against it because the plaintiff had not obtained PIAB authorisation. The plaintiff argued that the original proceedings predated the PIAB Act’s commencement and included declaratory relief as well as claims for damages, taking the case outside the Act’s requirements. The plaintiff also relied on the court’s power to add parties.
The judge concluded that adding the Council was, in substance, a new proceeding, even though the original action had begun before the Act took effect. He also found that the case against the Council was a civil action within the Act: the pleaded matters, including assault, trespass to the person and declarations, were different ways of seeking damages for personal injury, rather than claims concerning another cause of action.
The court therefore dismissed the case against Monaghan County Council. The judgment does not determine whether the alleged assault occurred or whether the Council was liable. Although the Council also sought costs, the judgment’s stated conclusion records dismissal of the proceedings and does not specify a costs order.