Personal Injuries Award
Judge Murphy delivered judgment in a case last week finding that the Personal Injuries Guidelines did not prevent the Court from awarding an uplift greater than the award of compensation for the main injury.
Multiple injuries
In the case, McHugh v Ferol [2023] IEHC 132, Ms McHugh was driving on a dark and narrow country road to a memorial mass for her deceased brother. The defendant’s vehicle was driving on the wrong side of the road, resulting in a violent head on collision between the two parties.
Ms McHugh sustained a number of injuries as a result of the collision. The most significant injury sustained by her was to her feet, particularly her right foot. She suffered with neck and head injuries. There was a suspected concussion. Her hips and lower back were injured and she suffered significant psychological reaction which was diagnosed as PTSD.
Assessment
The matter came before the High Court as an assessment only, where liability was not at issue, but the award of damages to fairly compensate the plaintiff could not be agreed between the parties.
Referring to the Personal Injuries Guidelines, which the Court is required to do, it was accepted that her main injury was that of her foot. The range for serious foot injuries is €38,000 to €75,000. The judge considered that Ms McHugh’s injury was towards the upper end of that bracket and awarded her €60,000 for that injury.
In respect of the other injuries, the Guidelines direct that a judge should, after quantifying the award for the main injury, thereafter uplift the value to ensure that the plaintiff is fairly and justly compensated for all of the additional pain, discomfort and limitations arising from their lesser injuries.
The court found that there is nothing in the Guidelines to suggest that the single uplift is restricted to a proportion of the damages awarded for the main injury. According to the court, a fair and transparent means of assessing what the uplift should be is to categorise each of the additional injuries according to the bracket that it would fall into were that the main injury and then discount the award to allow for the temporal overlap of the injuries. Valued individually, the additional injuries would have amounted to €65,000. Taking into account the overlap of injuries, the court considers that an uplift of €32,500, represents fair and just compensation for lesser injuries.
*In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.*
McHugh v Ferol [2023] IEHC 132
