A Taximan, whose new Ford Mondeo was written off in a crash following a drinks party in his home, has lost a £15,300 replacement claim for the car against the Hibernian Insurance company.
Judge John O'Hagan in the Circuit Civil Court said the insurance company believed Mr John Morris, of Ormond Crescent, Swords Manor, Co Dublin, had not been the driver of the car when it crashed and that he had made serious misrepresentations on his claim form.
Mr Brian Murray, counsel for Hibernian, said Mr Morris had lied about his job, his previous convictions, whether there were passengers in the car and if anyone had been injured.
Garda Gerry Maher said Mr Morris's son, John Jnr, had received serious head injuries in the accident and had admitted to him later in hospital that he had been the driver when it crashed.
Insurance officials said Mr Morris Jnr was a named driver on his father's policy and as such had been covered only for third party, fire and theft.
The court heard that a New Year's party had been held in the Morris household on December 30th, 1998. In the early hours of the following morning both father and son had set off in the Ford Mondeo to collect Mrs Morris who had been babysitting for her daughter so she could attend the party.
Both had been unaware that at the same time Mrs Morris was making her way home in a taxi.
Mr Morris Snr said his son had so much drink taken he had been barely able to stand and he had to physically remove him from the driver's seat of the car outside their home. He, the father, had driven although he had a couple of glasses of wine taken.
He said his son had been badly injured when the car skidded out of control on ice and he had left him "bleeding on the side of the road" while he walked to the nearby home of another son, Richard, to call the emergency services.
Richard had looked after things after that and he had lain down on a settee and spent the night in Richard's home. He said he was not aware that when Garda Maher had called to his home his wife had told him he was upstairs in bed asleep.
He said that as he left the scene of the accident he had seen the headlights of an oncoming vehicle and knew his injured son would be looked after.