A cyclist who was awarded €124,000 last year after being knocked off his bike by a bus driver has had the amount significantly reduced by the Court of Appeal. In the initial court case, at which the full award was made, Bus Éireann claimed the cyclist had contributed to his own crash and injuries because he was not looking where was going.
The man driving the bus – now retired, Declan Sheridan – said the first he knew of the crash was when the cyclist caught up with him at the next stop and remonstrated with him over what had happened in the crash on Custom House Quay, Dublin.
The video footage recorded from the bus at the time was wiped over by the time it was sought and Mr Sheridan did not tell the company about the crash for two weeks, when the Garda had become involved.
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While there was conflicting evidence during the initial case - in April, 2022 - from medical experts over the level and nature of the pain the cyclist, Gearoid O’Daly, continued to suffer almost six years after the accident, Mr Justice Michael Hanna said the account given to the court by the victim’s medical specialist had to take precedence.
The judge also said he believed Mr O’Daly’s account of what had happened on the day of the accident, at Custom House Quay, Dublin, on June 8th, 2016. He also believed the crash had been caused by a momentary lapse on the part of the driver and made an award of €124,000 to Mr O’Daly.
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Of that sum, €100,000 was general damages and €24,795 in special damages, which include the cost of treatments and therapies Mr O’Grady required and the bus overtook him and encroached into the bus lane he was in, knocking him from his bike.
Mr O’Daly, a bank official from Heuston South Quarter, Dublin 8, suffered a fractured wrist, injuries to his elbow and ankle and abrasions in the crash.
However, the Court of Appeal today - Thursday, September 28th - cut the award to €65,000. Bus Éireann claimed there was no evidence of a link between the crash injuries and the widespread body pain, or medically unexplained pain, Mr O'Daly said he was suffering from.
The bus company also claimed the trial judge did not properly interpret some of the medical evidence and that the initial award, on the basis of the evidence put forward, was excessive.
The Court of Appeal found there was “some merit" in Bus Éireann's contention that in the High Court case it was effectively concluded Mr O'Daly suffered from a pain syndrome, though the evidence did not support this.
In cutting the award - and basing the final amount on the book of quantum, which sets out amounts of specific injuries - the Court of Appeal said in any case the plaintiff must prove, via evidence, that the pain or injury they suffered from was caused by the defendants.
