The High Court awarded Jade Price €100,579 for serious injuries suffered in a 2010 crash that killed her friend, Mary Connors. The court assessed damages at €223,500 and deducted 55% for contributory negligence: 30% because Price knew Connors had consumed excessive alcohol before driving, and 25% because the judge found Price was not wearing a seatbelt.
In a judgment delivered on 30 October 2012, Mr Justice O’Neill also rejected the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland’s (MIBI) defence that Price knew the car was uninsured. The court said the MIBI had not proved, on the balance of probabilities, that she knew there was no insurance cover. Price had said she knew nothing about Connors’s insurance arrangements and assumed the car was insured.
The crash happened shortly after midnight on 15 May 2010 on the N81, close to The Embankment public house. Price was a front-seat passenger in a car driven by Connors, who was killed when the vehicle left the road and struck a tree. Price suffered multiple fractures and serious facial injuries, and had no memory of the crash.
The judge found that Connors’s negligent and reckless driving was the primary cause of the accident. The first defendant, Miley Connors, described in the judgment as the personal representative of Mary Connors, did not defend the proceedings. The car’s use was not covered by an insurance policy, so the MIBI was a party to the case.
On alcohol, the judge relied on evidence that Connors had an excessive quantity of alcohol in her system and on a witness’s account of the car’s erratic driving shortly before the crash. He inferred that Price had been with Connors at the Blue Gardenia pub and found it inconceivable that she did not know Connors had consumed a lot of alcohol before driving. He assessed Price’s contributory negligence on that basis at 30%.
The judge found on the balance of probabilities that Price was not wearing a seatbelt. Price had no recollection of whether she was restrained, but said she usually wore one. The judge considered her position in the wreckage, the ambulance record and her injuries. The two deductions reduced her recovery to 45% of the assessed damages.
The court described lasting effects including facial scarring, a deviated nose, breathing difficulty, double vision, pelvic scarring and tenderness, headaches, and psychological symptoms. It assessed pain and suffering at €60,000 to the date of judgment and €150,000 for the future, and included approximately €13,500 for future treatment. The judgment ordered recovery of €100,579; the source gives no further detail about costs or other terms.