The Court of Appeal has cut a damages award after finding it was “so disproportionate as to amount to an error of law”.
Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said the award was “further erroneous” as the High Court judge failed to have regard to the Personal Injury Guidelines in his oral judgment, a move required by legislation.
It was “noteworthy” that neither legal team in the case referred to the guidelines during the hearing and provided “absolutely no assistance” on how to approach assessing damages, the judge added.
The guidelines were introduced in 2019 in a bid to standardise awards for common injuries.
Mr Justice Noonan, supported by two colleagues, ruled that the High Court’s award of €99,162 at full liability should be cut to €59,162. Applying a 15pc discount for contributory negligence, the appeal court’s net award came to €50,287.
The sum was awarded to Courtney Collins for injuries sustained in a “terrifying” car crash in March 2019, when was 15. She and three school friends were passengers in the car driven by Steffan Parm, said Mr Justice Noonan.
The judge said Ms Collins, with an address in Clonmore, Hacketstown, Co Carlow, described a chaotic and “extremely frightening” scene.
Her case was against Mr Parm, Anneli Parm and Toomas Parm, described as the owners of the vehicle. They, under the care of AXA Insurance DAC, admitted partial liability subject to a plea of contributory negligence on the part of Ms Collins, who had not been wearing a seatbelt. The High Court’s Mr Justice Cian Ferriter found she was 15pc liable for her injuries.
The High Court judge identified that her dominant injury was psychiatric and that her post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had upended almost every aspect of her life for many months, although the position has improved.
He awarded €55,000 general damages for this and an “uplift” of €40,000 for her other injuries.
The defendants appealed the High Court award, arguing it was excessive, inadequately explained and a departure from the 2019 guidelines.
Ruling on the appeal, Mr Justice Noonan said it was “somewhat ironic” that the defendants complained the judge had no regard to the guidelines, when they themselves did not refer to them or to comparative cases.
Assessing the value of Ms Collins’s psychiatric injuries, Mr Justice Noonan noted the defendants conceded it could be valued at up to €35,000. Therefore, this should stand. With other injuries and factoring in 15pc contributory negligence, the net award was €50,287.
