[Article] €2.5m for teenager injured in crash

impr0v

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/04/13/story197949.html

wrote:

A teenager today received €2.5m compensation for serious injuries he received in a road accident almost six years ago.

Danny Walsh from Pearse Road, Ballyphehane, Cork, was only 16 years old when he was in the horrific car crash after a day trip to Crosshaven on Sunday May 3, 1999. Now 22, he is incapable of living independently and will need assistance for the rest of his life.

Julia Walsh said her son was always a happy, chatty and out-going boy who enjoyed playing football.

The plaintiff’s sister, Celine, said that in a way the amount of the award did not have a lot of meaning as it was all the money he was going to have to live the rest of his life and to pay for the care that he would need.

Solicitor, Frank Buttimer, who brought the case to the High Court in Cork, had this to say yesterday after the successful settlement of the action against the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland and the other named defendant, the uninsured driver of the crashed car, John Paul Heffernan of 35
Loughmahon Road, Mahon, Cork: “Danny is extremely grateful to all the medical staff at Cork University Hospital and the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire and he appreciates that without their intervention he not be alive today or would not enjoy the quality of live he has managed to achieve following the horrific injuries he suffered in the accident.

"He is grateful to his family and friends for the support they offered him since the time of the
accident.”

The offer approved by Mr Justice Liam MacKechnie was lodged in court for the benefit of Danny Walsh. Because serious injuries are a feature of the case there will be an application to the President of the High Court to have the plaintiff made award of court for the purposes of administering the payment of money in the course of his lifetime.

Paul Barry from Roselawn, Togher, Cork, a front seat passenger in the car, at the time that it crashed into a wall, died as a result of his injuries.

This €2.5m comes out of the uninsured drivers fund, which all drivers contribute to. On the radio news it also said that Justice MacKechnie took into account the fact that the claimant got into the car knowing it was uninsured and didn't wear his seatbelt.

Extract from reporting of the original crash:

wrote:

ONE Cork teenager was killed and another was in critical condition last night after a horrific crash involving six friends returning from a day at the seaside.
The dead man was Paul Barry, Roselawn, Douglas who was one of five boys and one girl travelling in the Toyota car which sped out of control and smashed through a wall at Lehenaghmore, Togher at around 6.30pm.
The five surviving occupants of the car were taken to Cork University Hospital where one was said to be in a critical condition. The teenagers were thought to have spent the day at Crosshaven and were returning home when the accident occurred.
The car came over the brow of a steep hill at Lehanamore, left a 100 feet skid mark veering onto the opposite side of the road and crashed broadside through a heavy wall at the entrance to a private house.

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/05/04/ihead.htm

cdebru

where is the justice some gob****e gets into a car with a gang of his mates that he knows to be uninsured and gets 2.5 million

someone else gets hit by a bus through no fault of their own and is lucky they were not pursued for costs

MorningStar

Either way other people were going to have to pay, it's not like he could work for himself now. It does all seem unfair but it's not like he could be left without any care. Makes me angry but I don't think anybody is a winner here.