The Court of Appeal increased the claim saying while the cyclist should not have been on the pavement the driver of the car should have yielded and given her right of way.
A Dublin woman who fell off her bike and fractured her elbow trying to avoid a car while she was cycling on the footpath has had an injury claim increased from €9,000 to €36,000 by the Court of Appeal.
The court ruled while the cyclist should not have been cycling on the footpath the driver of the car exiting a business premises should have yielded.
"He was obliged to yield right-of-way to her even though she should not have been cycling on the footpath," Ms Justice Mary Irvine said, on behalf of the three-judge Court of Appeal.
The incident at the centre of the case occurred on May 2nd, 2013, in Swords, Co Dublin.
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The cyclist, Patricia Moore, sued the company that owned the car, Advance Pit Stop.
The court was told that Ms Moore, a customer services advisor in a DIY shop in Swords, was cycling on the pavement outside the Advance Pit Stop premises because road works in the area had reduced the lanes on the road from two to one.
Just as she was passing the entrance-exit of the Advance Pit Stop premises one of the company’s drivers was exiting in his car.
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The court was told the driver was looking left and had music playing in his vehicle as Ms Moore cycled on the path towards the vehicle, on its right.
As the car edged into her path Ms Moore shouted at the driver, whose window was open, but the car continued and she was forced to take a last minute evasive action to swerve in front of the car in an effort to get around it.
However, in doing so she fell and suffered an injury to her elbow which was later diagnosed as a fracture.
The driver of the vehicle said Ms Moore was on the road at that time, adding he had stopped short of the kerb.
He believed she fell because she had pillows on the back of her bike that he believed hit his car as she passed the front of it and tried to get out of the way of oncoming traffic.
Ms Moore was initially awarded €60,000 but the High Court reduced it to €9,000 on the basis she was 85 per cent liable for the incident.
She appealed and in a judgement handed down last Friday the Court of Appeal found Ms Moore was in fact 40 per cent liable and thereby increased the award to €36,000.
Ms Justice Mary Irvine said while Ms Moore should not have been cycling on the pavement her liability on that point was reduced because of the road works.
The judge also said the greater blame was with the driver.
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