PERSONAL INJURY

PERSONAL INJURIES
Drunkenness at the Time of Accident Defeated Claim.

The plaintiff’s claim arose from an incident where he maintained that his wheelchair was stopped at a road junction when
it was struck by the defendant’s taxi shortly before midnight on the night of 7th May 2017.

He took his case to the Circuit Court for pain in his shoulder and arm, and a graze to his hip.

The plaintiff claimed that four days after the accident he went to his GP, then a second time the following month and he continued to receive treatment from the wheelchair association physiotherapist. He claimed that the defendant’s taxi struck his wheelchair on the right-hand side, and he tumbled out of the chair onto the middle of the road. He told the court he only had particular recollection of the incident through ‘flashbacks’. He said his self-esteem took a blow when he was no longer able to compete at an elite level of his sport because of his shoulder injury.

The legal teams for both sides disputed whether the plaintiff was on the incorrect side of the road when using his wheelchair.

On the night of the accident, the plaintiff had dinner at home and then went to a pub between 5:30 pm and 6:30 to watch a football match and have a few drinks. He remained in the pub until close to midnight. He admitted that he ‘probably drank a pint an hour’. On being challenged on his state due to alcohol, he answered, ‘I was not drunk…I was not sober’.

A Garda, who was at the scene, said the plaintiff was very intoxicated. He said the plaintiff verbally abused him and the ambulance
staff who were trying to assist him. The garda also said that the plaintiff would not give a description of what had happened. The plaintiff’s explanation for this was that he must have been disoriented and confused after the accident. He said he had a pain in his head. The hospital staff had to be alerted as well as security staff because of the plaintiff’s aggressive and abusive condition.

Counsel for the defendant asserted that the plaintiff was ‘stocious drunk’.

The defendant stated in evidence that his taxi was stopped at the junction and that the wheelchair ran into the taxi, with the point of impact being the front registration plate.

The plaintiff also gave the wrong address for the accident, so an engineer consulted for the plaintiff examined the wrong junction in 2017, then several years later examined the correct junction.

The judge dismissed the plaintiff’s case ruling that there was no liability against the taxi driver for the accident and he was satisfied that the taxi vehicle was stationary. The evidence of the plaintiff could not be relied upon. Costs were awarded against the plaintiff.

Hegarty v O’Halloran Cork Circuit Court (His Hon Judge Sheehan) 15 January 2025.