A front-seat passenger who was impaled on a metal prong after his car crashed into a tractor has been awarded £285,000 compensation in the High Court in Belfast.
Mr Leo Donnelly (38), a glazier from Greencastle, Co Tyrone, was seriously injured in the crash in 1997.
His brother was driving the car on the Omagh-Cookstown road when it ran into the rear of a tractor which was fitted with a two-pronged implement used for lifting bales of silage.
One of the prongs penetrated the front of the car and went through Mr Donnelly's body, causing serious internal injuries and a fractured hip. He was in hospital for seven weeks.
The court was told the rear lights and indicators on the tractor were obscured by mud.
Mr Donnelly, who has had to give up his job, sued Mr Michael Carland, of Baroney Road, Mountfield, Omagh, the driver of the tractor, which was owned by his father, Frank.
After a two-day hearing before Mr Justice Gillen, the action was settled out of court.