A passenger whiplash compensation claim has been settled at the Circuit Civil Court with an award of €10,000 to a man who was injured in his aunt´s car.
John Connors (20) was a passenger in his aunt´s car when it was involved in an accident on Kiltipper Road in Tallaght on 2nd December 2010. John – who was fifteen years of age at the time of the accident – was treated at the Tallaght Hospital for soft tissue injuries caused by whiplash, and he returned to the hospital on four or five more occasions to receive physiotherapy on his neck and back.
As John was too young to represent himself, his father made a passenger whiplash compensation claim on his behalf against the driver of the car in his he was a passenger – John´s aunt, Bridget Connors. Bridget Connors admitted liability for the accident, but John´s father was not satisfied with the assessment of the passenger whiplash compensation claim by the Injuries Board.
The Injuries Board issued an authorisation for the claim to be heard in court, and the case went before Mr Justice Raymond Groarke at the Circuit Civil Court for his assessment of damages.
As the passenger whiplash compensation claim was before the judge for the assessment of damages only, John was asked about any long-term consequences he had suffered as a result of the car accident. John replied that the injuries to his neck and back had healed, but that he suffered from an unrelated liver condition that meant he would age prematurely
Judge Groarke awarded John €10,000 compensation in settlement of his passenger whiplash compensation claim and the costs of bringing his legal action to court. The judge commented that there was doubt that John had suffered soft tissue injuries to his neck and back as a result of the accident and that liability for the accident had not been contested.