The High Court awarded Kate Flynn €685,648.15 in damages for serious injuries she sustained in a 2009 road crash that killed her fiancé and another passenger. The court accepted the treating neurologist’s opinion that Flynn’s recurring seizures were likely to be epileptic and caused by the accident, while noting that the diagnosis had not been definitively confirmed by a video EEG.
Mr Justice Barr delivered judgment on 15 May 2015 in Flynn’s action against Anthony Long. The judgment says liability for causing the collision was not in issue between the parties. The award comprised €150,000 for pain and suffering to date, €200,000 for future pain and suffering and loss of amenity, €51,818.88 for past loss of earnings, €59,274 for future loss of earnings, €218,187 for night care and €6,368.27 in agreed special damages.
Flynn suffered a skull-base fracture, soft-tissue injuries, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The court heard that she continued to have neck pain and restricted movement, and that her psychological symptoms persisted. The judgment records that the experts disagreed over whether seizures that began in 2012 were epileptic or psychogenic. Barr preferred the evidence of Dr Brian Sweeney, who treated Flynn, and found the seizures were likely epileptic and caused by the crash. The court cited features including a foul taste and smell before seizures, tongue biting, incontinence, headaches afterwards, a temporary improvement with medication and the significant head injury.
The court accepted evidence that frequent seizures restricted Flynn’s work options and meant she could not drive or work with dangerous machinery, at heights or in childcare. It rejected calculations that assumed she would never work again or would lose €45,000 a year for life. Instead, it awarded future earnings loss on the basis that she would be unable to do part-time work earning €178 a week for seven years.
The judgment also accepted that another adult should be present at night for Flynn’s health and her daughter’s safety. It valued night care at €218,187, using the lower estimated private support rate, through the period until her daughter reached 14. The judgment does not state the daughter’s date of birth or specify an order for ongoing payments; it gives a total damages award.