Judge: Compo case was ‘a set-up from start to finish’

“This is a set-up from start to finish,” a judge said as he dismissed a compensation case taken by six people arising out of alleged injuries from a car crash in Macroom in 2009.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin awarded costs against them at Cork Circuit Court. “There was allegedly any number of people in the two vehicles and none of them knows how the accident happened or why it happened, and that various people were bleeding in the cars,” he said.

Assessor Liam Cotter examined the damage and said it was inconsistent with the cars having collided.

He also said there was a 25cm difference in height between the damage caused to the cars. He said they could not have been damaged by colliding with each other. This evidence was not challenged in court yesterday.

Dismissing the claims, the judge made particular reference to plaintiff Ian Lyons, aged 27, of 13 Closes Green, Farranree, Cork.

“Ian Lyons is a professional litigant. He has had so many claims he could not even remember in which one each injury occurred.

“Is there not any way he could be stopped from getting insurance, for as long as he is going to be insured [such cases would be taken].”

The other plaintiffs were: Theresa Lyons, aged 54, of 13 Closes Green, Farranree; Michael Burke, aged 28, of 58 Eagle Valley, Wilton; Michelle Burke, aged 34, and Patrick Burke, aged 32, both of 1 Barry’s Place, Cathedral Rd; and Vanessa O’Brien, aged 24, of 20 Brook Avenue, Togher.