Lorry driver fails in €60,000 claim for personal injuries

A jobless lorry driver yesterday failed in a €60,000 damages claim for personal injuries arising from a road traffic crash less than an hour after he had settled a similar road traffic injury claim against his wife.

After Judge Jacqueline Linnane threw out Ireneusz Larus’s second claim, Frank Martin, counsel for the defendants, told the Circuit Civil Court he would be seeking to seize the earlier award of €12,500 to meet his client’s legal costs.

Judge Linnane, accepting an undertaking from Mr Larus’s solicitors that they would hold on to any cheque payable to him to settle the earlier case, said the cost of false claims was one of the reasons insurance companies put forward for insurance premiums going up.