A Dublin taxi driver has abandoned a £30,000 damages claim for whiplash after it was revealed in court that he had withheld details of a later accident. Mr James Connolly, of Clonliffe Avenue, withdrew his action against Ms Deirdre Smith after the President of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Diarmuid Sheridan, advised him to "consider his position".
Mr Connolly had sued Ms Smith, of McCreadies Lane, Dublin Road, Malahide, after an accident on Drumcondra Road Lower on April 18th last year. He claimed to have sustained "serious personal injuries".
Ms Adrienne Fields, counsel for Ms Smith, said Mr Connolly had disclosed information about two previous accidents and when she asked him about a third, which he had not revealed, he said it was "only a tiff".
Ms Fields then produced a civil bill in which Mr Connolly is claiming £30,000 damages "for similarly severe personal injuries, loss, damage, inconvenience and expense" for another accident on June 16th last year.
She told Mr Justice Sheridan that this claim had not yet come to trial and alleged injuries in relation to it had not been disclosed to the defendant.
Mr Connolly's claim against Ms Smith was withdrawn after Mr Justice Sheridan said the undisclosed accident could not simply have been a "little tiff" if Mr Connolly had been injured as set out in the action yet to come before the court.
Pleadings opened in court revealed that Mr Connolly had used different solicitors for each of the claims.