Injury Compensation News

Daryl Noonan, now aged 20 and originally from Navan, County Meath, has settled his High Court case against Bus Éireann for compensation for the post traumatic stress and depression following a school bus accident.

The school bus lost control and overturned on Kenstown Road, near Navan, in May 2005, resulting in the deaths of five schoolgirls. Mr. Noonan suffered minor injuries but heard screams before the crash and witnessed passengers with injuries following the accident. He was close friends with one of the fatal victims.

Mr. Noonan’s suffered nightmares and became anxious while travelling, his schoolwork deteriorated, he became uncommunicative, and family relationships deteriorated.

Mr. Noonan received counseling but eventually moved to Australia.

Bus Éireann admitted liability in the case. The amount of compensation was not revealed.

Megan Ledden, now aged 14 years, of Glasnevin, Dublin, has been awarded €20,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court in a case against a minibus owner following an accident where she was struck in the head by a wing mirror.
The accident occurred on a pedestrian crossing on Old Finglas Road in March 2007. Ledden was knocked unconscious as she fell back and hit her head on the ground. Ledden suffered a laceration on the right side of her forehead and bruising on her right knee. The result was permanent faint scarring under the hairline on her forehead, although fortunately it is not visible.
Mr Justice Matthew Deery approved the settlement and also awarded legal costs.

In the High Court, Mr Justice John Quirke claimed that he was unhappy with the system of compensation settlements when awarding more than 5 million Euros to Caroline Bogue of Belturbet, County Cavan, following an agreement between the claimant and the joint defendants – her cousin Ciaran Bogue and the Motor Insurance Board of Ireland (MIBI).

Stating that the money would be gone within 10 years, he criticised the lack of staged payments for awards of personal injury compensation and commented that the value of the settlement represented just 60% of what the claim was worth. His comments follow the case of Caroline, who suffered severe brain damage when an uninsured car, driven by the defendants brother, crashed into a tree just outside of her home town of Belturbet in May 2003. Despite wearing a seatbelt, Caroline – who was aged just 17 at the time of the accident – was admitted to Cavan Hospital where a CT scan of her brain showed she had suffered major haemorrhaging.
Now 24, Caroline needs assistance for daily living and feeding herself due to the consequences of her accident. She also experiences difficulty sleeping, has poor short-term memory and slow speech. Caroline will need permanent care throughout the rest of her life, and Mr Justice John Quirke is concerned that the settlement is insufficient for her lifetime and that she will become reliant on the State.

As it was alleged by the defence that Caroline knew that the car in which she was travelling was uninsured, Mr Justice John Quirke accepted that there was a risk that the claimant might be awarded less if the case went to a full hearing, and was guided by Caroline´s counsel. However, he commented that he was unhappy that he had to approve “a settlement so utterly speculative and imprecise from Caroline’s point of view”. A new system, which is due to be introduced in about 18 months time, will provide for continual payments over the period of the victim’s life.

Caroline Bogue of Belturbet, County Cavan, has obtained a settlement of over €5 million in a High Court settlement after an uninsured car in which she was travelling as a passenger crashed into a tree, resulting in severe injuries. Caroline Bogue suffered brain damage and will require assistance for the rest of her life.
The accident occured on May 1st, 2003, when Caroline Bogue was 17 years old.
The case was taken against the car driver Declan Brogue, the car ower Ciaran Bogue, and the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland. Liability was denied in the case on the grounds that Caroline Bogue was aware that car was not insured and was allegedly taken without the permission of the owner. The settlement was made without admitting liability.
Mr Justice John Quirke said that the case highlighted the need for a new system of staged payments in personal injuries cases.

Controller and Auditor General has revealed that payments made under the Garda Siochana Compensation Acts for injury compensation claims amounted to 12 million euro in 2009. The highest award to a Garda was €132,000.  Civilians injuried in accidents on Garda premises are entitled to receive compensation under the act and six civilians shared compensation of €48,000. The Controller and Auditor General has also reported that compensation and legal costs of over €3m were paid out in 2009 for accidents involving grada squad cars. The payments were made for 280 cases that resulted from 532 accidents, with payments ranging from €2 to €250,000.  Prisoners and civilians visiting prisons are entitled to compensation. Prison staff injured while on duty received €682,000, with the highest payment being €73,000. Some 83 prisoners received compensation for injuries while an seemingly very high number of civilians – 26 – were hurt while visiting jails and claimed compensation.

Mr Justice John Quirke has ruled against a woman claiming €410,000 damages for loss of earnings arising from a whiplash injury claim, finding that it was “highly probably” that she gave misleading evidence regarding her injuries and capacity to work.  Mary Farrell of Finglas South, County Dublin was involved in a car accident with a bus belonging to Dublin Bus on June 14th 2004 at the junction of North Circular Road and Dorset Street.

Dublin Bus provided the court with videos of Ms. Farrell mowing the grass and emptying the grass box over a wall, repeatedly raising her arm in the process despite her injury the nature of her whiplash claims.

Dublin Bus also presented evidence of a comfortable lifestyle, including expensive cars and foreign holidays, that was inconsistent with claims of loss of earnings and future loss of earnings.

Dublin Bus asked Mr Justice Quirke to dismiss the claim under the provision of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 that allows for the dismissal of claims where a judge considers a claimant gave material misleading evidence to increase their compensation claim or in support of a false claim.

Mr. Justice Quirke cited multiple reasons for dismissing the case.

The simply lesson from this case is that while you can work with your solicitor to ensure that you present your case for compensation in the strongest possible manner, you should never exaggerate or even make misleading statements.

Sean Geraghty of Oldcastle, County Meath, has settled his High Court case for his arm that was severed during a collision with a truck.

It was claimed in court that Gereghty’s arm was severed by a lorry driven by Edward Gavin on the Ballyjamesduff to Oldcastle Road in County Meath. Geraghty’s right arm was severed five inches below the elbow while adjusting his wing mirror. The incident happened on the night of July 15, 2003. The passenger in Geraghty’s car called for an ambulance and the gardai and Geraghty was taken to hospital and sedated. The severed part of the arm was never recovered and it was speculated in court that foxes or rats may have taken it.

Edward Gavin denied all knowlege of the incident; which is entirely possible given the circumstances of the accident. However, blood was found on the truck at the likely point of impact:

Geraghty has not been able to resume his former job as a driver or resume sports such as swimming and pitch and putt golf.

Geraghty sued for negligence and breach of duty of care following the alleged incident.

The case was settled out of court.

Three siblings of a 14-year-old girl, Jennifer Hoban, who died of injuries resulting from being struck by a bus, have accepted an undisclosed settlement from Dublin Bus.

Jennifer Hoban was struck by a bus while crossing Killinarden Way in Tallaght on November 5th, 1997 and died shortly afterward from her injuries.   Her two brothers and sister, who are now adults, suffered prolonged grief following the accident.   A case was taken against Dublin Bus through the children’s father, Thomas Hoban, for compensation damages for psychiatric injury.

Dublin Bus made the settlement without admitting liability.

The Road Traffic Bill 2009 that arrives in Seanad Eireann this week after passing unopposed in the Dáil last week will improve road safety in Ireland by reducing road traffic accident deaths while also having an important impact on road traffic accident injury compensation claims. The Road Safety Authority has ample statistics on drunk driving that show that alcohol contributes to one third of all fatal traffic accidents in Ireland.  A driver at the current limit of 80 mg of alcohol per 100 mls of blood is six times more likely to have an accident than a sober driver.

Minister Dempsey has pursued his campaign to save lives despite what has been described as ‘huge pressure”.  The improved safety measures were, somewhat incredibly, strongly opposed by a group of rural TDs who pointed out that rural pubs are often the centre of social life in rural areas where there is no public transport.  The Vintners’ Federation of Ireland opposed the new measures and pointed out that speeding was the biggest single cause of road deaths in Ireland.
The blood  alcohol limit for learner and professional drivers, such as taxi drivers, has been reduced to 20 mg of alcohol per 100 mls of blood. The best new feature of the new law is that drivers will now be tested for alcohol in traffic accidents when anyone has been injured.

New Rules will Impact Injury Compensation Process
The circumstances of road traffic accident injury claims will now often be somewhat clearer because the gardai will test drivers for alcohol.  Regardless of the circumstances of an accident, a driver found to have consumed alcohol will very likely be held negligent. Drivers under the influence of alcohol are never in full control of their vehicles and even their statements about the circumstances of an accident cannot be fully relied upon.  Even the victim of a rear end car accident that is found to have consumed alcohol will be guilty of contributory negligence.
If you are ever involved in a road traffic accident, do not hesitate to inform any gardai present of potential injuries so that they will conduct alcohol tests on all parties in the accident.  Your solicitor will use evidence of alcohol consumption while negotiating any injury compensation settlement.

More improvements are still required:

• There may be a temporary shortage of  roadside breathalysers as the new measures are rolled out and some drunk drivers may avoid testing because the new bill states that the mandatory testing must be done within one hour.
• The lack of a driving ban for drivers caught with between 50 mg and 100 mg seriously undermines the new measures.
• There is still no mandatory requirement for alcohol tests where someone has not been injured.  Such a requirement would further help discourage drink driving.
• There is still no drug driving testing measures, despite the fact that workplace drug testing is now a standard procedure for many occupations and has been in place for decades in the United States.

The family of Maria Verdida, a nurse aged 52 at the time of her death in October 2003, has received €575,000 following an road traffic accident involving a bus.
The case for wrongful death was taken by the husband of the deceased nurse, Resituto Verdida, who has since moved back to the Philippines, against Dublin Bus and the bus driver. The defendants admitted full liability for the accident and the only question to be decided was the amount of compensation.
The bus driver, Frank Turner of Crumlin, Dublin, was driving at a safe speed but was temporarily blinded by strong sunlight and failed to react in time when the light at a pedestrian crossing changed to amber.  Mr Turner admitted fault in the accident and apologised to the family of Mrs Verdida. He was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence, fined €500,  and banned from driving for four years.
The bus was not carrying any passengers – which would surely have resulted in claims for mental stress had they witnessed the very unfortunate accident.