Father-of-three gets €3m after road accident and hospital fall

A SETTLEMENT understood to be for over €3 million was reached yesterday in the High Court in the case of a wheelchair-bound father-of-three who sustained serious injuries in a road accident and hit his head on the ground after falling off a hospital table about a month later.

Timothy Morrissey had claimed that, just weeks after sustaining serious injuries in a road accident, he suffered further serious injuries when he fell from a hospital table while being X-rayed.

He claimed the fall from the hospital table was at the core of his injuries and that, as a result of the fall, he is a quadriplegic.

He had sued Colin O’Leary, of Summerstown Road, Wilton, Cork, for injuries allegedly sustained after he was hit by a motor vehicle driven by Mr O’Leary on October 30, 1999. He had also sued the Southern Health Board for injuries which he claimed he sustained in Cork University Hospital on November 26, 1999.

In separate defences, both defendants had denied the claims.

The case opened earlier this week but Mr Justice de Valera was told the action had been settled and could be struck out with an order for one-third costs against Mr O’Leary and two-thirds costs against the SHB.

During the hearing, Mr Morrissey, aged 46, of Corrib Lawn, Mayfield, Cork, had told his counsel John O’Mahony he could not remember anything about the road accident but remembered being in Dun Laoghaire Rehabilitation Centre from April until October 2000.

He said he had served 25 years in the Army before joining Bus Éireann as a driver. He had won cross-country races 10 years in a row and also won orienteering events while in the Army.

The court heard Mr Morrissey was taken to the X-ray department at Cork University Hospital on November 26, 1999, and at some stage fell off the table and hit his head off the ground.

It was alleged he had received major damage to the spinal cord when he fell and was a quadriplegic because of the severe damage caused in that fall.

The SHB had denied the claims and pleaded the road accident had caused all the injuries to the plaintiff.

In his defence, Mr O’Leary had denied negligence and denied a claim Mr Morrissey was crossing the public highway lawfully. He also pleaded Mr Morrissey was guilty of contributory negligence by failing to keep a proper look out.

Breda Morrissey, wife of the plaintiff, said that after the road accident, her husband had been in a critical condition for 16 or 17 days, but subsequently became quite well and had movement in his hands and his legs.

However, after her husband fell in hospital, he had gone totally downhill and was a totally different man.

He had left hospital in January 2001 and was totally dependent on her for everything from then up until the present.