‘Commendable plaintiff’ awarded over €190k by judge

A staff officer with Kerry County Council, who was badly hurt in two separate road accidents, was praised by a judge for the manner in which she played down the nature of her injuries at a compensation claim hearing at a High Court sitting in Limerick.

Mr Justice Michael Moriarty described Catherine Brennan of Skeheneeran, Listowel, as a commendable plaintiff. He awarded her €193,350.

During evidence, she told how she was recovering from her injuries, and was now feeling an “awful lot better”.

Judge Moriarty said: “Such utterances are rarely heard in these parts and this is very much to her credit.”

Ms Brennan, aged 45, received her injuries in two accidents within 17 weeks of each other in 2010 and 2011. Liability was accepted in both.

In the first accident, the court heard an oncoming motorist blacked out and collided with Ms Brennan as she travelled home to Listowel from work at Kerry County Council in Tralee. Her car was a write-off. In the second accident, she was a passenger in a car which as hit by another car after it skidded on ice near Listowel.

Judge Moriarty said: “Many go through their driving careers without any significant mishap. But this was a wretched roll of the dice for the plaintiff to have been involved in two serious crashes in such a short period of time.” He said while her injuries were not catastrophic, they were of an appreciative gravity.

The court was told after the first accident, Ms Brennan got back to work very quickly, despite receiving spinal and back injuries. She also suffered broken teeth.

Due to a hand injury she had to re-adapt her housework routine.

On returning to work, with the co-operation of her supervisor, she worked a four-day week, which resulted in her forfeiting a portion of her holidays.

She had to undergo an MRI scan, but as she suffered from claustrophobia, Ms Brennan had to travel to London where more user- friendly MRI scan equipment was available.

In the second accident, the court was told Ms Brennan was a passenger in a car which was hit by another vehicle after it skidded on ice.

This was a very frightening experience, and the court was told, it aggravated the symptoms of the injuries she suffered in the first accident.

Judge Moriarty said the two accidents amounted to a frightening double impact on Ms Brennan who then suffered from panic attacks and nightmares.

Awarding her damages totalling €193,350 against the drivers involved in the two accidents, Judge Moriarty said: “It is hard to envisage a more commendable plaintiff. It is rare to hear from a plaintiff that she was feeling better and this is absolutely commendable.”