Injury Compensation News

A woman, whose holiday in Italy was ruined when a sun longer collapse beneath her has been awarded 38,000 Euros in compensation for holiday sun lounger accident at the Circuit Civil Court.

Mary Lee (74) from Navan, County Meath, was on a week´s holiday at the four-star Hotel Galeazzi in Brescia, when the sun lounger on which she was sitting collapsed beneath her – causing her to strike her head on the concrete floor beside the pool.

As Mary started to feel dizzy and disorientated, she was taken to the local hospital where she was diagnosed with a severe soft tissue injury to the back of her head and neck. Although Mary was prescribed strong painkillers, the pains in her arms, back and legs prevented her from leaving her hotel room for the remainder of the holiday.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane at the Circuit Civil Court heard that on her return to Navan, Mary consulted her family doctor and, despite being prescribed more painkillers, continued to experience pains which prevented her from pursuing a “normal” life.

After seeking legal advice, Mary made a claim for compensation for holiday sun lounger accident against the travel company through whom the holiday had been booked – The Travel Department of Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin.

The Travel Department denied liability for Mary´s injuries and sought to have the owners of the hotel brought into proceedings as third-party defendants. However Judge Linnane found against the travel agency and, although ruling that The Travel Department should be indemnified by the hotel for the settlement, awarded Mary 38,000 Euros compensation for holiday sun lounger accident.

A man, who suffered nerve damage in his arm after it was struck by a pub door, has been awarded 35,000 Euros after his claim for radial nerve injury compensation was uncontested.

Mr Justice Matthew Deery in the Circuit Civil Court heard that Radoslaw Wojtkow (31) of Dundrum, Dublin, had been leaving The Living Room pub on Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin on May 27th 2009 when an emergency door which had been opened to allow customers to come in and out of the pub fell from its hinges and struck him on the arm.

Radoslaw sought a medical examination the next day, but no fracture was diagnosed. Due to the pain continuing, Radoslaw later attended a neurologist who conducted a scan on his arm and found that the door accident had caused damage to his radial nerve. After taking legal advice, Radoslaw brought a claim for radial nerve injury compensation against Murraywalsh Ltd trading as The Living Room for damages.

Radoslaw´s legal representatives advised Mr Justice Matthew Deery that the pub owners had failed to enter a defence to Radoslaw´s claim for radial nerve injury compensation and that a judgement had already been made against them. Consequently the case was before Mr Deery for assessment of damages only.

Having taken medical reports into accounts and the fact that The Living Room had not contested the radial nerve injury claim, Mr Justice Matthew Deery awarded Radoslaw 35,000 Euros.

Figures from the Injuries Board, released to coincide with “World Day for Health and Safety at Work” have revealed that slips, trips and falls are among the most common reasons for work injury claims in Ireland.

Along with injuries sustained due to defective equipment and poor manual handling of goods, slips trips and falls in the workplace – especially in the manufacturing and production sectors – contributed substantially towards the total of 22,500,000 Euros assessed by the Injuries Board throughout 2011 in relation to work injury claims in Ireland.

Although the total value of work injury claims in Ireland decreased significantly from 2010, InjuriesBoard.ie chief executive Patricia Byron was quick to dismiss claims that workplace health and safety in Ireland was improving by comparing work injury claims in Ireland with a smaller work force.

“While our figures point to a downward trend in the number of claims for workplace accidents,” she said “the main driver for this is a contracting workforce rather than any notable advances in workplace health and safety programmes. We understand that businesses today are under constant pressure to drive efficiencies, often operating with scarce resources, but cutting corners on employee safety is a cut too far. We are continually surprised by the volume of such foreseeable and preventable claims.”

In the first case of its kind, an Irish court has settled an overseas accident compensation claim made by a Dublin resident who was injured in a road traffic accident in France.

Peter Kelly (75) of Ranelagh, Dublin, sustained a hip injury when he was knocked over by a council maintenance van while crossing the Traverse de la Tour in Cannes in June 2009. Although Peter did not require immediate surgery for his injury, the condition of his hip deteriorated and he had to undergo a total hip replacement operation in 2011.

After taking legal advice, Peter made an overseas accident compensation claim against French- domiciled insurer Groupama. Groupama accepted liability for his injuries but argued that French law should be applied in assessing how much compensation Peter should receive as compensation levels in France are considerably lower than they are in Ireland.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O´Neill at the High Court accepted this argument and noted that a “Book of Quantum” exists in France – as in Ireland – to ensure that awards of compensation remain consistent throughout France. However, the judge added that although any figures quoted in the Book of Quantum should be used as a guide, it did not fetter a judge in determining how much should be awarded in an overseas accident compensation claim.

Furthermore the judge pointed out, as Peter had been a very active person prior to his accident, his “loss of amenity” was considerable as he could no longer play tennis or cycle and was restricted in the normal day-to-day activities he could do without assistance. Therefore, in assessing how much compensation for an overseas accident Peter was entitled to, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O´Neill applied the methodology under which a French court would make its award but increased the value of the overseas accident compensation claim to Irish levels.

Awarding Peter 63,900 Euros for his pain and suffering at the time of the overseas accident and subsequent loss of amenity, the judge noted that using the French Book of Quantum exclusively, the level of the award would have been 38,506 Euros. As the two parties had already agreed special damages of 24,267 Euros, the full amount of the settlement for Peter´s overseas accident compensation claim amounted to 88,167 Euros.

The highest ever award of car crash injury compensation in Ireland was made this week to a boy who sustained devastating injuries while travelling as a passenger in a car driven by his mother.

Cullen Kennedy (10), of Loughrea, County Galway, was awarded 11.5 million Euros at the High Court in Dublin following an accident in May 2008 when he was thrown against the windscreen of his mother´s car – despite being secured in a bolster chair on the rear seat – and suffered such devastating injuries that he is now a quadriplegic and breathes through a ventilator.

Ms Justice Mary Irvine heard that on May 5th 2008, Cullen´s mother – Margaret – was momentarily distracted by her son and due to a “momentary lapse of concentration” wandered into the path of an oncoming car. Neither Margaret nor the driver of the other vehicle suffered any serious injury, but Cullen suffered severe spinal injuries which will confine him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

As Margaret Cullen was an uninsured driver, a claim for car accidents without insurance compensation was made by Cullen´s grandmother on his behalf against the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI). After assessing the care that Cullen had already received and what he made need for the future, an award of 11.5 million Euros was agreed which, although being a record for car crash injury compensation in Ireland, drew criticism from Ms Justice Mary Irvine.

Approving the lump sum payment, but condemning the lack of Periodic Payment Orders (PPOs), Ms Justice Mary Irvine said that the courts were gambling with the lives of those who had suffered catastrophic injuries. “The reality is the courts don’t know when people are going to die,” she said. “We are gambling every day.” Her comments were made in the context of an injured person living longer than anticipated by medical experts and running out of money to fund their care.

Ms Justice Mary Irvine noted that a working group on Periodic Payment Orders had been established in 2008, and had reported in October 2010 that legislation should be introduced to allow cases concerning a catastrophic injury to be settled on the basis of annual payments (PPOs). While Ms Justice Mary Irvine had “no doubt the Government has very significant issues to deal with” she said that the absence of legislation had left the courts guessing about the security, welfare and futures of the most vulnerable litigants.

The annual report from the Injuries Board Ireland has revealed a 12 per cent increase in the value of Injuries Board assessments from 186 million Euros in 2010 to 210 million Euros in 2011.

The statistics are only for personal injury claims that have been assessed through the Injuries Board, and does not include claims that were a settlement was negotiated, or where an award was made in the High Court, or medical negligence claims.

The report from the Injuries Board Ireland does not state how many of their assessments were accepted in 2011 – the average over the past four years has been under 60 per cent – but revealed that only 35 per cent (9,834) of the claims received (27,669) were actually assessed. The vast majority of injury claims in Ireland being resolved by negotiation between the claimant’s solicitors and the insurance companies before Injuries Board assessments were made or declined for assessment.

Road traffic accident claims were once again the primary reason for Injury Board assessments in 2011, accounting for 76.5 per cent of the requests for assessment. As mentioned above, the proportion of claims for injuries at work fell from 11 per cent to 8.4 per cent, while the remainder of the claims received for Injuries Board assessments were comprised of public liability claims (15.1 per cent) for injuries sustained in places of public access (supermarket injury claims, footpath injury claims, school injury claims, etc.).

The Injuries Board Ireland does not assess claims for compensation concerning medical negligence or where full liability is not admitted.

A teenager from Cork is set to receive 700,000 Euros after a proposed settlement for Erbs Palsy compensation was approved at the High Court in Dublin.

Aoife James (14) from Douglas in Cork, was born in 1998 with Erbs Palsy – a condition also known as Brachial Plexus Birth Palsy, which is caused by the over-extension of the nerves between the neck and shoulder during delivery.

In the majority of cases, the nerves heal themselves within the first few months of an infant´s life, but in Aoife´s case the condition remained in her right side and she is unable to perform relatively basic tasks such as wash herself or dry her hair using her right arm.

Despite intense physiotherapy and two major operations, Aoife´s condition has not improved and claiming through her mother, Carol, that her condition was due to medical negligence at the time of her birth, Aoife made a birth injury compensation claim against the attending consultant obstetrician – Patrick Kieran of the Cork Clinic, Western Road, Cork.

In her claim for Erbs Palsy compensation, Aoife alleged that she suffered permanent right-sided Erbs Palsy due to the obstetrician´s negligence, and that her severely functionally compromised upper right limb was responsible for a deterioration in her quality of life.

At the High Court in Dublin, Ms Justice Mary Irvine heard that an offer of Erbs Palsy compensation had been made without admission of liability and the family were willing to accept it. Ms Justice Mary Irvine approved the amount of 700,000 Euros, and ordered that it be paid into court funds until Aoife reaches the age of eighteen.

A man, who suffered a severe brain trauma and now requires permanent care after being thrown from a car driven by an uninsured driver, has had his injury compensation claim against MIBI approved in court.

The man – who is a ward of court and cannot be named for legal reasons – was just 19 years of age when, in March 2008, he was a back seat passenger in a car which went out of control, left the road and ran into a tree. The victim, who was thrown from the car as it left the road, suffered a severe brain trauma which has left him requiring permanent nursing care and only able to communicate by means of thumb up or thumb down.

Ms Justice Mary Irvine at the High Court heard that the driver of the car had been uninsured, and that an injury compensation claim against the Motor Insurers´ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) had been made. She also heard that an agreement had been reached between the man´s legal representatives and MIBI to award 4.25 million Euros to the victim – an amount which had been reduced by 20 per cent to account for the man´s contributory negligence of failing to wear a seatbelt.

The judge approved the settlement of the unnamed man´s injury compensation claim against MIBI, stating that it was an excellent settlement which would provide the car he required for the rest of his life. She also ordered that the foster mother who had been caring for the victim since his accident should receive an immediate lump sum payment of 544,800 Euros to cover the expenses and hospital bills she had already incurred.

The family of a man who died in hospital due to “an unjustifiable delay” in his treatment have received an apology from the hospital in question and 500,000 Euros compensation in settlement of their wrongful death claim.

Barry Murphy (38) from Carrigaline, County Cork, was known to suffer from Crohn´s Disease – but was generally in good health – when he was admitted to the South Infirmary–Victoria University Hospital on the morning of 24th April 2008 complaining of abdominal pains. Barry was diagnosed with a perforated bowl but, by the time the hospital operated on him, parts of his body had already shut down due to septic shock and he died at 11.15pm the same evening.

Barry´s widow, Mary, claimed that the hospital had not cared for her husband by failing to operate on him in time, and that they were guilty of medical negligence in the avoidable and wrongful death of her husband. The South Infirmary–Victoria University Hospital initially denied the claims, but in front of Mr Justice John Quirke at the Dublin High Court apologised to the family and admitted that the level of care that was provided for Barry fell short of an acceptable standard.

The apology and admission of liability for Mary Murphy´s wrongful death claim was accompanied with an offer of compensation for delayed treatment amounting to 500,000 Euros. Mr Justice John Quirke approved the settlement, once he had Mary Murphy´s agreement that it was acceptable, and extended his sympathies to Mary and her two daughters – commenting that what had happened to Barry was “unthinkable” and “tragic”.

An employee of RTE, who fell and injured his elbow while trying to unsnag a curtain during a show rehearsal for The Saturday Night Show, has been awarded 18,500 Euros in fall at work compensation at the Circuit Civil Court.

Arthur McMullan (59) of Goatstown, Dublin, was working for the national broadcaster as a props assistant when the accident occurred in the RTE Donnybrook studios in February 2010. Trying to unsnag the stage curtain from a mirror ball, Arthur fell over a studio floor lamp and injured his left elbow.

In his claim for fall at work compensation, Arthur alleged that RTE were aware of the curtain consistently presenting a problem and, in support of his claim, the court was shown a video clip of a broadcast show in which presenter Brendan O´Connor had to hold back the curtains during a performance by doo-wop band The Overtones.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane at the Circuit Civil Court also heard Arthur´s compensation claim for falls at work support by a colleague at the RTE studios, who claimed that the curtains had been an ongoing problem for a number of years. Arthur´s legal representative also advised the judge that Arthur still felt pain in his elbow two years after the injury had been sustained.

After hearing the evidence relating to Arthur´s fall at work compensation claim, Judge Jacqueline Linnane awarded Arthur 18,500 Euros in compensation.