A woman who suffered injuries when a delivery van driven by an uninsured driver in which she was sitting on the rear floor went out of control and hit a wall is entitled to recover damages from the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland, the High Court has ruled.
Mr Justice George Birmingham ruled the MIBI was "an emanation of the State" and that Elaine Farrell, whose sister Marie died in the incident of January 1996, was entitled to recover damages from it. Given that finding, he adjourned the proceedings to allow the sides consider his judgment.
In September 1997, Ms Farrell had obtained a judgment against the driver but the Government and the MIBI blocked compensation to her on grounds she was sitting on the floor in the back of a vehicle not designed or constructed to seat passengers safely.
However, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled last April that Ms Farrell is entitled to compensation in the Irish courts. It upheld her claim that a 1990 EU directive on insurance and civil liability entitled her to succeed in her civil action because all EU states were obliged to ensure that insurance covers liability for personal injuries to all passengers excluding the driver.
The ECJ also said Ireland might put "reasonable" restrictions on any compensation pay-out to partially reflect a limited amount of contributory negligence on the part of the victim. It said the Government would be within its rights to exclude payment of compensation to anyone who voluntarily enters a vehicle knowing it to be uninsured.
Yesterday, the judge noted that Ms Farrell was involved in an incident which occurred near Tudor Lane in Tallaght. She claimed the driver, who was uninsured, had lost control of the vehicle and caused it to crash into a wall and that she had, as a result, suffered personal injuries.
Ms Farrell sought compensation from the MIBI under the terms of a 1988 agreement between the State and MIBI but the MIBI refused to become involved in the claim or compensate her. Its refusal was because she was travelling in a part of the vehicle not fitted with seating and accordingly, it said, insurance was not compulsory.