A young man who survived an "appalling" car crash in which his parents and six-year-old brother died has secured some €535,000 damages from the High Court against a solicitor over admitted negligence in not bringing the man's claim for damages within the statutory two-year time limit.
Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill made the award yesterday to Seán Yardley (19), with an address in London, against solicitor Kevin Brophy, practising at Parliament Street, Dublin.
Mr Yardley was aged just four when he lost his parents, Stephen and Ann Marie, and older brother Alex, in a road traffic accident near Gorey, Co Wexford, on November 28th, 1992. The family had just sold their home in England and the crash occurred not long after they disembarked from the ferry at Rosslare and were driving to Dublin where they planned to set up home.
Seán sustained some injuries in the accident but survived and was reared by his paternal grandmother Rosalind Yardley, now 71 and in poor health. Both Ms Yardley and Seán lived for a few years in Glasthule, Dublin, at first with Seán's maternal grandmother.
Ms Yardley then returned to England with Seán who secured good A-level results and is now pursuing a degree in physics at University College, London.
The court heard that in 1994, Mr Brophy was instructed to take proceedings for Seán against a representative of his late father, claiming damages for negligence. A plenary summons was issued in 1995 but this was outside the statutory two-year time limit for such actions.
The High Court was subsequently asked by the defendant, who denied the allegations of negligence by Seán's father, to dismiss the claim on grounds it was statute-barred. In December 2004, Mr Justice Daniel Herbert struck out the action on that basis.
Mr Justice Herbert said it appeared the sole reason the plenary summons was issued outside the two-year time limit was because a person in Mr Brophy's firm appeared to be unfamiliar with the limitation period. Following that decision, proceedings were issued by Mr Yardley against Mr Brophy, alleging negligence. When the case opened on Tuesday, Mr Justice O'Neill was told liability was admitted and his only task was to assess damages.
The judge awarded €498,480 for childcare and housekeeping to date for Mr Yardley; €15,000 for housekeeping into the future; €19,046 (the statutory payments) for the deaths of Seán's mother and brother; and €2,673 for funeral expenses.