The High Court awarded total damages of €373,875.76 in a dependency claim arising from a fatal road traffic accident on 26 October 2009. The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Barr on 15 May 2015, assessed losses claimed by a minor daughter of the deceased and other statutory dependants.
The court valued the child’s financial dependency at €198,000, adopting the defendant’s actuary’s calculation to age 21. It rejected the plaintiff’s actuary’s higher figure of €212,200, which assumed support to age 23, finding that some reduction was appropriate because the child might not remain dependent until then.
For childcare, the court accepted a value of €100 per week but limited the period to age 14, rather than age 16 as proposed by the plaintiff’s actuary. It allowed €65,000 for that loss. It also allowed €53,050 for the deceased’s household maintenance services, accepting evidence that the deceased and his partner would likely have married and obtained a home of their own. The claim for those services ran to the child’s age of 23.
The court allowed €27,840 for services the deceased had provided to his mother, including €6,820 for past losses. It allocated €10,000 in solatium damages to the child and €10,000 to the deceased’s mother. The deceased’s half-sister was allocated €5,394.76, in line with an approach the family had indicated it would accept. The court made no solatium award to the deceased’s father, noting the evidence before it about his limited interaction with the deceased and non-attendance at the funeral. The deceased’s grandmother had waived damages to which she might be entitled through her granddaughter.
The child’s total award was €326,050. The mother was awarded €37,840, including the services and solatium amounts. Agreed special damages of €4,591 were to be paid to the plaintiff’s solicitor for distribution to those who had made the relevant payments. The judgment states total damages of €373,875.76. It assesses damages; the source does not record any separate order on liability.