The Court of Appeal has dismissed Kellie Quinlivan’s appeal against the dismissal of her claim to the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) over a 2015 crash near a railway bridge in County Laois.
Ms Quinlivan said diesel spilled by an unidentified motorist caused her car to skid on the wet road and hit the bridge. The High Court found that she had not proved the spill caused the crash. The appeal court upheld that conclusion.
The accident happened on 6 July 2015 on the road from Rathdowney to Borris-in-Ossory. Ms Quinlivan, then 23, was driving to visit a client in the course of her work as a care assistant. She had a provisional licence and was driving without a fully licensed driver, which she accepted was unlawful.
The dispute centred on where the diesel was and whether it caused her to lose control. Three people who arrived at the scene gave evidence of oil or diesel on the road; two described it on the approach to the bridge and on Ms Quinlivan’s side. Garda Aidan Greene, who arrived about an hour after the crash, said he found diesel several feet long, mostly in the oncoming lane at the bridge’s apex. His notebook entry and photographs supported his account.
The High Court preferred Garda Greene’s evidence where accounts differed. It also identified inconsistencies between Ms Quinlivan’s evidence and earlier accounts about where she lost control, and considered disclosure issues concerning her medical history. The court concluded that the diesel was not the cause of the crash. It said that, even if the spill had caused the accident, there was insufficient evidence to establish that it resulted from negligent use of a vehicle.
On appeal, Ms Quinlivan argued that the judge had given too little weight to her witnesses, applied an improper level of scepticism to her evidence, and failed to distinguish an earlier case about negligent driving from the legal test of negligent use.
The Court of Appeal said the civil standard of proof applied: Ms Quinlivan had to show that her account was more likely than not. It found no basis to interfere with the trial judge’s decision to prefer the garda’s contemporaneous notes and photographs over conflicting recollections. The appeal court stressed that it was for the trial judge to resolve that factual conflict and that the appeal court would not reweigh evidence supported by credible material.
The court dismissed the appeal. Because the claim failed on whether the spill caused the crash, it said it was unnecessary and inappropriate to decide separately whether an unidentified vehicle had been negligently used.
The MIBI was successful on appeal. The court’s provisional view was that it should receive its costs. Ms Quinlivan had 14 days to seek a short supplemental hearing on costs; no final costs order is stated in the judgment.