High Court orders stay on €25k bus accident award on condition €5k is paid out

By Ann O'Loughlin

A stay has been placed by the High Court on the full payout of a €25,000 award to a woman injured when a bus in which she was a passenger had to suddenly brake.

The stay was granted pending an appeal provided that Dublin Bus pay Rachel Hardiman €5,000 of the award sum.

Ms Hardiman, a 28-year-old healthcare worker, was injured when she was thrown forward in the incident on September 23, 2012. She was on her way to work and had been taken by surprise when she was jolted forward, striking her head and arm against bus furniture, a judge was told.

Earlier this month, the Circuit Court awarded her €25,000 and refused to place a stay on the award pending appeal.

Dublin Bus appealed both liability and amount of the award to the High Court, which has yet to be heard.

In the meantime, it also asked the High Court to place a stay on the Circuit Court requirement that it pay out the full award. Ms Hardiman's lawyers opposed the stay application.

Today, Mr Justice Charles Meenan said while he did not have the benefit of hearing the case as the Circuit Court judge did, he noted a stay was refused notwithstanding that liability and quantum were in dispute.

He allowed a stay subject to the bus company paying out €5,000 and also noted Ms Hardiman would have to repay that if Dublin Bus is successful in its appeal.

The Circuit Court heard the incident occurred after the bus driver braked when a man ran onto a road in front of the bus to attack a group of Asian people.

The man then "turned on a sixpence in a millisecond" giving the bus driver no chance to avoid hitting him despite having slammed on his brakes.

Circuit Court Judge Terence O'Sullivan, in finding for Ms Hardiman, said although the driver had lifted his foot off the accelerator after seeing the man on the road, the court did not consider this to have been enough.

Any prudent driver would have slowed down as drivers could not always expect pedestrians to do precisely what they would do, he said.