The High Court has awarded Bernard Faughnan €63,000 in a personal injuries case arising from a 2016 road crash, finding that his lower back injury was moderately severe and that he also suffered moderate head and neck injuries.
Mr Justice Heslin delivered judgment on 9 November 2023 after a de novo hearing of Mr Faughnan’s appeal from the Circuit Court. Liability was not in issue. The judge assessed compensation after considering Mr Faughnan’s sworn evidence and medical reports admitted into evidence.
The crash happened on 20 November 2016 as Mr Faughnan and his family travelled from Dublin towards Kilkenny. His car was struck by a jeep and pushed onto a footpath and into a stone wall. The judge found the impact caused a concussion and post-concussional syndrome, and aggravated pre-existing back pain that had not been symptomatic for four years before the crash.
Mr Faughnan was off work for three months. His evidence was that back and neck pain affected his physical work as a fitter, driving, housework and family activities. He continued to report intermittent lower back pain years later and had not returned to activities including golf, cycling and triathlon or duathlon events. The court noted that he had attended clinicians 34 times by October 2020 and continued to use exercises to manage his symptoms.
The judge rejected the defendants’ submission that the injuries were minor and that there was a disconnect between Mr Faughnan’s evidence and the medical reports. He also made no adverse credibility finding over a printout concerning a 2017 triathlon event: the document had not been proved through a witness and the court said it had no probative value. Mr Faughnan’s evidence that he took part in the swim only, not the cycling or running, remained the evidence before the court.
The award comprises €35,000 for the lower back injury, with an additional €10,000 for the head injury, including concussion, post-concussional syndrome and mental health effects, and €5,000 for the neck and shoulder injury. The court awarded a further €6,000 for future pain and suffering. Special damages of €7,000 had been agreed, bringing the total to €63,000.
The judge gave a preliminary view that costs should follow the event and proposed awarding the plaintiff his costs, including reserved costs and the Circuit Court costs, subject to adjudication if the parties could not agree. The parties were invited to submit an agreed draft order within 14 days; if they disputed its terms, short written submissions were also due by that deadline.