A young boy who allegedly suffered a shoulder injury during his birth at a Cork hospital is to receive €275,000 under a settlement of his High Court action against the HSE.

Seán Daly (8), Kinvara Park, Ballyvolane, Cork, had, through his father Denis, alleged he suffered the injury during his delivery at St Finbarr’s Hospital, Cork, on October 8th, 2004.

Yesterday, Dr John O’Mahony SC, for the child, told Ms Justice Mary Irvine the settlement was made without admission of liability.

A WOMAN who fell on her way into a parish hall to vote in a referendum has lost her High Court action for damages over the incident.

Anne Cassidy (68), Crickstown, Ratoath, Co Meath, sued Fr Philip Gaffney, the parish priest of Curraha, Ashbourne, Co Meath; Mary O’Malley, returning officer for East Meath in the referendum; and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government as the owner/occupier of the hall on the day of the accident.

The High Court was told Mrs Cassidy, a housewife, went with her husband Patrick to Curraha parochial hall on October 2nd, 2009, to vote in the second Lisbon referendum.

At the entrance door, she tripped and fell when her toe caught on a raised weather strip at the step into the hall, the court heard.

Mrs Cassidy claimed she suffered injuries and the defendants were negligent in … Read More »

A MAN who walked next door and punched his neighbour in the mouth has been told by a judge to pay him ?9,000 compensation.

Siobhán Gaffney, for Barry Matthews, told the Circuit Civil Court that her client admitted the assault on electrician Andrew McDermott in July 2009.

Mr McDermott (48), St Conleth’s Road, Walkinstown, Dublin, told her that Matthews, who lived next door, had made some allegation about bullying involving their two sons.

“There was a knock at the door and I went out to answer it,” Mr McDermott said.

“Barry Matthews was standing at the door and punched me in the mouth.”

Mr McDermott told his barrister Abdulla Morgan Kamber that his left upper lip had been lacerated “through and through”. There had been blood everywhere and on the hall floor, which he did not want his children to see.

He had gone to St … Read More »

An Insurer is not liable for any injury caused to a third party by any negligent driving of a person when driving a vehicle with the owner’s consent but without being a named driver on their policy, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The insurance firm’s liability is to the insured and is not a liability owed directly to the injured party, the five-judge court said.

It was ruling on a legal point raised by a man arising from his District Court conviction for driving his father’s car without insurance. Keith Donnelly was convicted in February 2008 of driving his father Eugene Donnelly’s car without cover on January 27th, 2007, at Fairgreen, Carlow.

The car was insured under a policy issued by AXA Insurance Ltd to Eugene Donnelly with himself and his wife as named drivers. Keith Donnelly was not named. When stopped by … Read More »

Ulster Bank is planning to pay out “tens of millions of euros” in compensation to customers affected by a technical problem at the bank.

Chief executive Jim Brown said bank was talking to the Financial Regulator about how to apply the compensation but admitted a considerable sum of money, valued at “tens of millions of euros”, had been set aside. Details of the compensation scheme will be announced shortly.

He said customers had been severely inconvenienced as a result of the problem and the bank would refund any incorrectly applied fees and charges and ensure customers’ credit ratings were not damaged.

Mr Brown said it could take several more weeks to finally clear the backlog of transactions built-up during the technical fault.

He said most Ulster Bank customer accounts were now up-to-date, although a “small percentage” of outstanding transactions and incidents of double-charging were … Read More »