Courts

Woman injured when car moved forward as she got out at maternity hospital awarded €20,000

Dara O’Donnell said he forgot Amy Hurst was in back of car after silent, tense end to journey

Amy Hurst said she was half way out of a car driven by Dara O’Donnell when it jolted forward, knocking her back into a rear seat. Photograph: iStock

Ray Managh
Tue Mar 5 2024 - 16:22

A motorist who did not remember he had a pregnant woman in the back of his car, and moved it forward as she alighted from the vehicle, told a judge he could not remember at what stage of the 45-minute journey he forgot his passenger was there.

Dara O’Donnell, of Milltree Rise, Ratoath, Co Meath, told the Circuit Civil Court there had been tension and absolutely no talk in the car following remarks about parking in disabled bays.

He told Judge Terence O’Sullivan that during the 2017 bus strike, he and his wife Amanda had given Amy Hurst, of Jamestown Park, Ratoath, an insurance claims fraud investigator known to them, a lift into Dublin.

When dropping both women off at the Rotunda Hospital on Parnell Street, his wife got out of the car first. He said he forgot about Ms Hurst being in the back and moved the vehicle forward an inch or two, before hearing his wife shout “stop” and applying the brakes.

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Ms Hurst, who alleged in a €60,000 damages claim that she injured her back and groin as well as her ankle in the incident, said she was half way out of the car when it jolted forward and she was knocked back into the rear seat.

She claimed she suffered post-traumatic stress as a result of fears she had about her baby. She was 37 weeks pregnant at the time and went on to deliver a healthy child.

Mr O’Donnell told barrister Adrianne Fields, who appeared with Delahunty O’Connor Solicitors for Ms Hurst, that he felt Ms Hurst took the claim for the purpose of compensation and “to get back at him”. During cross-examination, he said he was not accusing Ms Hurst of having taken a fraudulent claim.

His wife, Amanda, told the court her husband’s car jolted and she shouted stop, but she did not believe Ms Hurst had stumbled back into the car or been injured.

Judge O’Sullivan told Paul McMorrow, counsel for Mr O’Donnell, it was a very hotly contested case, but the court accepted that Mr O’Donnell’s car had moved. He said he did not accept that Mr O’Donnell had totally forgotten about Ms Hurst being in the back of his car.

He said he was satisfied Mr O’Donnell’s wife had shouted out a warning and that he had reacted to it by abruptly stopping the car.

Awarding Ms Hurst €20,000 damages and costs, Judge O’Sullivan said he accepted that Mr O’Donnell had at no stage deliberately moved his car forward with a view to deliberately discommoding Ms Hurst.

Judge O’Sullivan said it had to be noted that there were allegations about Ms Hurst not being injured to the extent she claimed and seeking to make a lot out of a minor incident.

He accepted that Ms Hurst’s back injury lasted for about a year and that there was no impact between the door of Mr O’Donnell’s car and her abdomen, but this did not mean her abdomen was not in some way compromised.

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