The High Court awarded Anne Keane €66,180.35 and costs after finding that a 2012 collision temporarily aggravated pre-existing conditions in her neck and left shoulder. The court attributed accident-related symptoms to the period ending in 2016, declined to award damages for future pain and suffering, and rejected her claim for future loss of earnings.
The collision happened on Nicholas Street, Limerick, on 27 October 2012. Keane’s car was stationary at a junction when a vehicle driven by Caroline Moloney struck it from behind. The court described the impact as minor, with limited force and little vehicle damage. Repairs to Keane’s car cost €280.
Keane reported neck and shoulder pain after the crash and continued to attend her general practitioner. She returned to work for a time but stopped in 2013, saying pain prevented her from doing the heavy lifting required in her canteen job. The judgment records her earlier history of neck and back problems, including after a fall and a previous road collision, as well as a back strain in 2012.
Medical witnesses differed over how long the collision’s effects lasted. The court accepted that the crash aggravated underlying symptoms and that Keane’s neck and shoulder complaints through the end of 2016 were probably caused by the collision. It accepted evidence that she had sustained a temporary aggravation of degenerative changes in her cervical spine and rotator-cuff pathology in her left shoulder. It was not satisfied that changes to her C4, C5 and C6 vertebrae were probably caused by the crash.
The court found that Keane had recovered from the accident-related injury by the end of 2016. It considered her prior symptoms, the low level of treatment, a medical examiner’s concerns about exaggeration and the differing movement assessments made by two doctors six days apart in April 2017. It concluded that later or continuing symptoms were attributable to degeneration rather than the collision. The judgment also noted that she had not pursued a shoulder-specialist consultation recommended in 2016.
The court awarded €40,000 for pain and suffering during the four-year period. It found no basis for future loss-of-earnings damages, but allowed earnings losses for the period from the accident through December 2016. It assessed those losses at €59,534 before deducting state benefits, leaving €24,256. It also awarded €1,924.35 for special damages, including medication. The judgment does not state the final costs figure.