A 46 year old Midwife who lost the sight in her eye when she was struck by an egg which was thrown by a Passenger in a motor vehicle has lost her High Court Claim for damages.
On the 26th March 2008 the Plaintiff was taking an evening walk with two friends down the Old Bray Road when suddenly without any warning, she felt a pain in her eye which caused her to fall towards the ground. It transpired that she had been struck in the eye by an egg which had been thrown by a backseat passenger in a motor car.
The Plaintiff instituted High Court proceedings seeking damages and the case came on for Hearing in the High Court before Mr Justice Kevin Cross and Judgement was delivered in the case on the 13th of November 2013.
The Plaintiff claimed that the Defendant was liable in respect of this incident and that he was vicariously liable for the actions of his passenger. The Plaintiff claimed that the Defendant was liable for the incident due to his failure to properly drive, care and control his motor vehicle and in failing to properly control the activities of his passenger.
The Plaintiffs Barrister claimed that the Defendant knew that there were eggs in his car which were being played with by his passengers and that he should have given a warning to his back seat passengers not to be “messing” with the eggs in the car.
The Judge found against the Plaintiff and held the Defendant was not liable in law for the actions of his passenger. There was no evidence that the driver was aware or ought to have known that it was likely that one of the passengers was going to throw eggs from the car. The Judge held that it would be unreasonable to hold the driver responsible in the absence of this evidence. The Judge found that this would be to impose upon the Defendant too high a burden and too onerous a standard of care.
The Judge did say however, had there been any evidence of a discussion of ‘egging pedestrians’ prior to the incident then the Judge would have held the driver liable.
If you have received an injury in a motor accident please call Liam Moloney today at 045 898000 or simply email Moloney Solicitors at info@moloneysolicitors.ie for advise on how to recover compensation for your injuries.
