Man who suffered injuries in collision with horses awarded €330,000

A man who suffered serious head injuries after the van he was driving collided into a herd of horses who had wandered onto the road has been awarded more than €330,000 in damages at the High Court.

John O'Brien (aged 58) suffered life-threatening injuries, and was transferred from hospital in Ballinasloe to Dublin's Beaumont hospital due to the multiple fractures to his skull and other bones as well as an injury to his brain as a result of the collision which occurred on the N6 road, some 7km from Athlone, around 8pm on October 21, 1998.

Mr O'Brien, a carpenter of Killimenaghan, Fardrum, Athlone, Co Westmeath sued Mr Francis Derwin Junr, The Derries, Moate Road, Athlone and the estate of his late father Francis Derwin Snr, Auburn, Dublin Road, Athlone who he claimed were negligent by failing to control their horses so that they escaped onto the roadway causing the accident.

Today at the High Court Mr Justice Peter Charleton said that he was satisfied that the defendants, who he said were in involved in the business of buying and selling horses, had been negligent and awarded Mr O'Brien €337,394 plus costs.

The defendants, who denied liability, said that the horses involved in the accident were not theirs, and had claimed contributory negligence.