Woman’s injury symptoms after rear-ending accident consistent with fabrication, court hears

A medical specialist has told a court that symptoms of injury displayed during his examination of a woman, claiming €60,000 damages arising out of a rear-ending accident, were consistent with fabrication and gross exaggeration.

Aidan Gleeson, a consultant in emergency medicine, told Judge John Martin in the Circuit Civil Court on Friday that Melissa McInerney, just more than three years after the collision, walked with her head, neck and torso held very stiff.

Barrister Shane English said Mr Gleeson had consulted Dr John Simon who had six months earlier examined Ms McInerney on behalf of the Personal Injuries Board and who had found her unwilling to perform even the most simple movements of her neck and lower back.

Mr English, who appeared with Ennis Solicitors for defending motorist Aine Delaney and her insurers Allianz, told Ms McInerney, of Drumcairn Green, Fettercairn, Tallaght, Dublin 24, that her behaviour, together with information she had given examining doctors, had been preposterous.

Judge Martin, dismissing Ms McInerney’s claim, said doctors had found her symptoms to be somewhat incredible. He said she appeared to have been playing games with the doctors by whom she was being examined in relation to her claim.

“You come to court with no other medical evidence than that presented by Mr Gleeson and Dr Simon and I have no option but to dismiss your claim,” Judge Martin said.

Ms McInerney was a passenger in a car driven by her aunt, Mary Connors, (50) of Cherryfield Way, Firhouse, Dublin, who was awarded €5,000 damages and District Court costs by Judge Martin. She had been rear-ended by Ms Delaney, a civil servant, of Lealand Avenue, Bawnogue, Clondalkin. Ms Connors’s then 11-year-old son, Dan, was also awarded €5,000 damages.

The court heard Ms Delaney’s car had collided or rolled into the back of Ms Connors’s car in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the Blackhorse Public House, Inchicore, Dublin, in December 2016.

Judge Martin had been asked to assess compensation to the three claimants on the grounds there had been a collision in which the impact had been minimal. He said Ms McInerney’s case had caused the court more disquiet than the other two cases.

Allianz had defended all three cases on the basis the accident had been a minimal impact that could not have caused the extent of injuries claimed.

Judge Martin ruled that, however slight, there had been a collision involving minor whiplash injuries to Ms Connors and her son. He granted Mr English a stay on the awards to facilitate consideration of an appeal in their cases to the High Court.