Luas passenger injured when taxi collided with tram awarded €80k

A 63-year-old woman who was injured when a taxi collided with a Luas tram at a junction in Dublin city has been awarded €80,000 by the High Court.

The award to Margaret Keating includes €10,000 for aggravated damages. .

Mr Justice Kevin Cross said he believed Ms Keating to be a truthful witness who did not in any way exaggerate her complaints.

Margaret Keating had sued the driver of the car, a taxi driver, claiming he ran a red light and caused an emergency on the Red line Luas tram in which she was traveling nearly four years ago.

She said she was sitting at the back of the tram and hit a support bar in the accident and suffered injuries to her neck and shoulder. The accident happened at the junction of Stevens Hill approaching Heuston Station.

Mr Justice Cross said while Ms Keating's physical injuries are soft tissue in nature, after hearing the medical evidence the judge said he found she is going to be left with some ongoing symptoms in to the future and indefinitely.

The judge accepted Ms Keating “has had a nasty time and has had a significant change in her lifestyle."

Margaret Keating, Bluebell Road, Bluebell, Dublin had sued taxi driver Martin Mulligan, Leixlip, Co. Kildare, over the accident on June 15, 2016.

She claimed the taxi driven by Mr Mulligan went through a red traffic light and collided with the Luas which was going through the junction on a green light.

She claimed the taxi driver drove through the junction when there was a red light showing against him and he failed to keep any or any proper lookout.

She also alleged, as a result of the accident, she developed a travel anxiety and now has a fear of traveling on trams and trains.

Mr Mulligan denied Ms Keating suffered injury as a result of the accident.

In his judgement, Mr Justice Kevin Cross said he formed a view Ms Keating was an entirely truthful person in relation to the circumstances of the accident and did not exaggerate her symptoms.

The judge said the taxi driver's legal team had applied to have the case dismissed on grounds including that Ms Keating had not referred to a 2017 accident in replies to particulars and that she had allegedly withheld the GP's report from the defendants until June 2019.

Mr Justice Cross said the 2017 accident was irrelevant to the injuries, the subject matter of this case, and he said there was no intention to deceive.

He found there was no basis to suggest the medical report from the GP was suppressed to disguise the 2017 accident.

He said professional misconduct was alleged and it is quite improper to allege professional misconduct against a solicitor without any possible basis for that allegation.

Ruling that the woman was entitled to aggravated damages, Mr Justice Cross said Ms Keating was never asked in evidence in relation to her subsequent injuries dealing with this accident and accordingly she did not swear any false or misleading evidence in that regard.