The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by John Briggs against a High Court finding that he and Darren Hurney were equally liable for a 2012 road crash on the Monivea to Galway road. The ruling leaves in place the High Court’s apportionment of liability between the two drivers.
Eoghan Gough, who was a back-seat passenger in Hurney’s Honda Civic, suffered significant head injuries. He was not wearing a seat belt and had conceded 25 per cent contributory negligence. That issue was not part of the appeal.
The crash happened as Hurney overtook Briggs’s Ford Transit van on a continuous white line. The High Court accepted evidence that Hurney was travelling at about 60 miles per hour as he began overtaking, above the 80 km/h speed limit. The Civic went out of control after Hurney swerved to avoid the van, which Briggs was turning across the road to enter his mobile home site.
Briggs argued that Hurney’s speed was the sole cause of the crash and challenged the trial judge’s findings that Briggs had not signalled or used brake lights, had failed to check his mirrors, and had moved across the white line. The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had evidence to support those findings, including testimony from Hurney and passenger Darren Duggan, and a reasoned basis for preferring their accounts.
The appeal court said the absence of contact between the vehicles did not remove Briggs’s responsibility: the evidence accepted by the High Court was that Hurney swerved to avoid a collision and then lost control. It also rejected the argument that Hurney’s speeding and illegal overtaking absolved Briggs of his own duty to take reasonable care.
The court noted that both drivers’ conduct contributed to the crash. Hurney was speeding and overtaking where it was not permitted; Briggs failed to check his mirrors and signal, and turned across the white line without warning. The appeal judge said she might have assessed the proportions of fault differently, but not so substantially differently as to justify intervention.
The appeal was dismissed. The High Court’s finding of equal liability between the drivers therefore remains in place.