A young man who suffered serious injuries after being hit by a bus which he sought to wave down while standing in the middle of the road early one morning has been awarded €444,085 damages, plus legal costs, by the High Court.
Mr Justice John Edwards ruled earlier this month that David Flood had acted in a bizarre and reckless way by standing in the middle of the road to wave down the bus at about 3.20am on June 17th, 2005.
The judge found Mr Flood was 70 per cent responsible for the accident which happened at Blanchardstown Road South, Dublin and that the bus driver, Paul Mahon, was 30 per cent negligent in not slowing down the bus to about 5mph.
Mr Flood had brought proceedings against Dublin Bus through his mother, Carmel Flood, Second Avenue, Seville Place, Dublin.
After delivering his findings on liability last month, Mr Justice Edwards adjourned his decision on the amount of damages. Yesterday, he awarded total damages of €1.48 million but, given his finding that Mr Flood was 70 per cent responsible, Mr Flood will receive €444,085, plus legal costs. The award includes €64,500, for general damages, €56,454, for losses to date and €323,131, for future losses.
The judge said he agreed with medical reports to the effect that the injuries which Mr Flood suffered had had pervasive and enormous effects on him. Mr Flood, now aged 30, had gone from a normal, outgoing, confident individual to one suffering permanent mental impairment which significantly affected his cognitive ability, memory and ability to learn.
In his finding on negligence, the judge had said Mr Flood had been out with friends and quite an amount of alcohol had been taken on the night of the accident. They had waited about 15 minutes for a taxi and then decided to walk. As the Nitelink bus approached, Mr Flood's friends had crossed over the road but Mr Flood stayed about a foot over the centre line of the road. As the bus closed the gap, it veered to Mr Flood's right and hit him.
The driver said he saw four youths cross the road. One of the youths went back on to the road and stood in the middle. Mr Mahon said he tried to pull out to avoid him, slowed down from 30mph to 20mph and flashed the lights. He did not stop the bus out of fear of being attacked.
The judge said it would have been much safer to slow the bus to 5mph and edge to a crawl. To attempt to overtake Mr Flood at even 20mph was an error of judgment and in the circumstances, Mr Mahon was negligent. However, Mr Flood had no business being on the road in the manner he was, the judge added. No doubt if he had been sober he would not have done it. He took a very significant risk in flagging down the bus which was a bizarre and reckless thing to do.