Former RTÉ supervisor's €60,000 claim thrown out

Claim  against a well-known Dublin solicitor smacked of opportunism, a judge said.

Phil Collins became the centre of national attention when her retirement party was revealed to have breached Covid health guidelines.

A €60,000 damages claim by former RTÉ supervisor Phil Collins against a well-known Dublin solicitor smacked of opportunism, a judge said today when throwing out her claim and making an order for costs against her.

Collins, who claimed she had been injured in a rear-ending accident after leaving work at RTÉ in November 2019, became the centre of national attention a year later when her retirement party was revealed to have breached Covid health guidelines.

It led to public apologies by a number of top RTÉ presenters for having attended the gathering. They included Miriam O’Callaghan, Bryan Dobson, David McCullagh, Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh, and Eileen Dunne.

In her claim today against Damien Tansey, of Elm Brook, Rosses Point, Co Sligo, a leading personal injuries solicitor, she told Judge James O’Donohoe she had suffered whiplash injuries when Tansey’s Land Rover collided with her Audi car while she was stopped at traffic lights near the Radisson Blu Hotel on the Stillorgan dual carriageway.

Ms Collins, 67, of Roebuck Downs, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14, told barrister Frank Martin, counsel for Tansey and his Liberty Insurers, that she had not been involved in previous personal injury claims.

Agreeing that complete candour was vital in legal proceedings such as hers, she said the reason she had not disclosed to the court having had a claim for a fracture of her hand prior to the Stillorgan accident was because she believed she had been asked about the disclosure only of previous motoring claims.

Mr Martin, who appeared with Declan O’Flaherty of Tormey Solicitors, said that from her work for RTÉ in news and current affairs, and arising from her previous claim for her hand injury, she would have been well aware of the significance of full disclosure in her claim.

Collins said she had been shocked and distressed as a result of the collision and Mr Tansey had paid just under €1,000 for the replacement of her car bumper. For weeks afterward she had no intention of bringing a personal injuries claim until she had been advised by her GP that she had suffered a whiplash to her neck and shoulders and required medication for pain.

Investigator photos

She agreed with Mr Martin it was she who appeared in private investigator photos of her carrying out, without apparent difficulty, activities similar to that of uninjured individuals including the carrying of shopping bags and being able easily get in and out of her car on various occasions.

Tansey told the court that in a moment of inattention, he had lifted his foot off the brake in his automatic car in bumper-to-bumper traffic and it had rolled forward of its own accord no more than a couple of yards into the back of Ms Collins’s car.

He said it had been dark at the time and while neither of them could see damage to her car bumper he had told her to examine it the following morning in daylight and contact him if any repairs were necessary. He had paid the bill for the replacement of her bumper and had been flabbergasted at the eventual issuing of a personal injuries claim against him.

The court heard the bill was high because Audi refuses to carry out repairs to bumpers and insists on replacing them.

Judge O’Donohoe, a former solicitor who was told neither party had any objection to his hearing the case, said Mr Tansey was well known to the court and had given very detailed evidence of a very minor incident. He had been quite shocked on receiving the initial letter indicating a claim was being taken against him.

Photos taken by the private investigator indicated Ms Collins was a very active lady able to stoop and carry shopping bags although the court was unaware of their weight.

“This case smacks of being an opportunistic claim in which she overstates her injury and overstates the whole incident,” Judge O’Donohoe said. “She has had previous injuries to her back which she didn’t disclose until this late stage.” Dismissing her claim he awarded Mr Tansey his legal costs.