People found to have exaggerated personal injuries claims may be forced to pay the respondent's legal costs, following a Supreme Court ruling today.
By a 2/1 majority decision, the court today upheld an award of €20,000 to a Dublin man arising from injuries sustained in a collision involving a bus. But it directed the man pay Dublin Bus the costs incurred by the company for fighting the case in the High Court rather than the Circuit Court. Claims for less than €38,000 are generally brought before the Circuit Court making the legal costs cheaper.
The plaintiff, Mr Conor O'Connor (35), of St Margaret's Avenue, Dublin 5, is now likely to face a bill substantially in excess of his damages award.
The proceedings arose after a bus owned by Dublin Bus drove into the rear of Mr O'Connor's four-wheel-drive, which was stationary at the time, on the Malahide Road, Dublin, on November 19th 1996.
Mr O'Connor took proceedings in the High Court where Dublin Bus admitted liability but challenged Mr O'Connor's claim about the extent of his injuries.
The company claimed Mr O'Connor had exaggerated his injuries to the extent that it constituted an abuse of process and produced video evidence of the plaintiff engaging in building work and other physical activities.
In his High Court judgment last March Mr Justice O'Donovan held Mr O'Connor had suffered a moderate injury due to the company's negligence and awarded over €20,431.
He also said he had no doubt Mr O'Connor had grossly exaggerated the symptoms he experienced as a result of the injuries. However he was not persuaded that Mr O'Connor told deliberate lies.
"In other words, while I think that he is misguided and a lot of his problems, particularly his alleged ongoing problems, are a figment of his imagination, I think that basically he is an honest person."
Dublin Bus appealed but the Supreme Court today dismissed it and upheld the High Court decision that Mr O'Connor was not deliberately dishonest.
However, while Ms Justice Denham also upheld the High Court decision on costs, Mr Justice Murray and Mr Justice Hardiman held that Mr O'Connor should pay Dublin Bus's costs incurred by defending the case in the High Court.