The High Court found an uninsured driver responsible for a 2013 collision on the Cloneen–Killusty Road in Co Tipperary, rejecting the defence that the plaintiff had been on the wrong side of the road. The court awarded her €105,000 in general damages and €12,069 in special damages.
In a judgment delivered on 17 May 2019, Ms Justice O’Hanlon said the plaintiff was a credible witness. She found, on the balance of probabilities, that the defendant either cut the corner or crossed onto the plaintiff’s side of the road. The plaintiff had moved as far left as she could to avoid him, the judge found, and was not responsible for the crash. The court rejected all claims of contributory negligence.
The collision happened around midday on 11 August 2013. The plaintiff was driving with a front-seat passenger and her four-year-old son in the back. The first defendant, driving a car registered to his father, was uninsured. The plaintiff said he approached near the middle of the road and struck her car as she pulled towards the ditch. The defence pleaded that she was on the wrong side and alleged excessive speed. The driver told the court that her car had come wide around a bend and hit his.
The judge relied on photographs and the engineers’ evidence about the damage and the vehicles’ positions. She said the damage along the driver’s side of the plaintiff’s car began at the wing and driver’s door and continued towards the rear, contradicting the defendant’s account that he struck the back door as she swerved back onto her side. She also accepted that the impact pushed the plaintiff’s car into a ditch and against a stone pier. The judge rejected a suggestion that a car rally explained tyre marks shown in photographs.
The judgment records that the driver said his arm had caught on the steering wheel or seatbelt. The judge found he had failed to take sufficient care while driving and to pay due attention to the plaintiff’s vehicle. She also found the vehicle’s owner negligent for allowing his son to drive without insurance.
On injury and damages, the court found that the plaintiff had pre-existing back difficulties, which the collision exacerbated, and that she sustained further neck difficulties. The judge said the injuries had affected her farm and kennel work and that she continued to have pain and stiffness almost five years after the crash. She assessed pain and suffering to date at €80,000 and future pain and suffering at €25,000, making €105,000 in general damages, plus €12,069 for special damage.
The supplied judgment excerpt ends after the damages assessment. It does not state any further order or explain how the award was to be apportioned among the defendants.