by Andrew Carey
andrew@limerickpost.ie
A County Limerick man has been awarded €320,000 in damages after the car he was travelling in left the road to avoid three foxes eating a badger carcass.
Following three days of evidence at the High Court sitting in Limerick, Justice Michael Moriarty ruled that the 40-year-old Gerard McKenna was entitled to substantial damages as a result of his injuries.
On January 12, 2013, he was a front seat passenger in a car driven by his sister when they came around the bend to find three foxes gnawing at a badger carcass in the middle of the road.
Mr McKenna’s sister swerved to avoid the animals and mounted a ditch before the car collided with a concrete post and came to rest, upturned, in a field.
“In the aftermath of the disaster,” Justice Moriarty said, the injured man was found to have suffered three complex fractures to his neck area and required surgery and 64 staples to close a large wound to his forehead and scalp.
A Jerome Halo neck brace, described by Mr Justice Moriarty as a something that resembled a “medieval torture implement”, was fitted to Mr McKenna’s head for ten weeks. This involved having four metal rods drilled into the outer layer of his skull to completely immobilise his neck.
He was discharged from hospital a week later into the care of his family.
In April, 2013, he returned to his rented accommodation in Raheen where he lived with two brothers.
The Jerome brace was removed and Mr McKenna had a neck collar fitted which he wore for a number of weeks.
Mr Justice Moriarty said that it was the evidence before the court that Mr McKenna was left with a “U-shaped scar” on his head, daily headaches, pain and a sever difficulty in hearing on his left side. Stabbing pains to his neck and shoulders were also found to be a regular occurrence.
Mr McKenna, who was unemployed at the time but had a previous good work record, was a “gregarious and outgoing character who loved to work”, but since the accident was only capable of “light and limited tasks”.
Mr Justice Moriarty said that it was the “gravest case” that had been brought before the High Court during the Limerick sessions and that his medical and legal representatives instructed by solicitor Ms Francis Twomey, “were a credit given the level of detail and care involved”.
In light of the findings, Mr Justice Moriarty said that the injuries would have a significant impact on Mr McKenna’s quality of life as he “still feels a considerable amount of pain and disappointment in life as result.”
€320,000 in damages was awarded to Mr McKenna and Justice Moriarty advised him to stay in touch with his legal and medical representatives in light of the “substantial award, so you can be suitably advised”.
