A black man, who claimed he was racially abused and was about to be struck by a bus driver in a "road rage" incident, is entitled to damages for assault, a High Court judge has ruled.
Mr Justice Max Barrett granted the man's appeal against a decision dismissing his action for damages against Bus Éireann.
Anthony Doran, Charlestown Place, St Margaret's Road, Dublin, sued the company over the incident which happened in Dublin's city centre on February 28th, 2014, when his car broke down and he had to pull into a bus stop.
Last May, the Circuit Court dismissed his action after finding Mr Doran failed to establish his claims of assault, battery and false imprisonment. Bus Éireann denied those claims.
He appealed to the High Court which found on Friday he had been assaulted, and adjourned to next week the question of how much he will be awarded.
Mr Justice Barrett, granting the appeal, said he preferred the version of the events given by Mr Doran, to the version given by the bus driver and by one of his colleagues who witnessed the incident.
The judge said it was “a sad irony” that Mr Doran, “an Irishman, who is black, was racially abused by a white man who has come to this country from abroad and thus might himself be exposed — unacceptably if it were to occur — to some form of intolerance”.
The judge said Mr Doran had been driving across Butt Bridge when his car gave out and he came to a halt in an area where buses stop and park.
He called for a recovery vehicle and while waiting, a number of buses arrived. He waved them on and they did so without any difficulty.
One driver “acted differently” and, although Mr Doran tried to explain his predicament, the driver refused to open his window and “was clearly intent that Mr Doran should move on”, the judge said.
Mr Doran got back into his car and the bus driver then got out of his vehicle, approached the car and, despite Mr Doran trying to explain himself again, “was treated to some foul and aggressive language”.
If it had been just coarse language, it might have ended there, but what appeared to have riled Mr Doran was reference to his skin colour, the judge said.
The bus driver admitted using foul and aggressive language, and was regretful for that, but denied he used the racial epithet, the judge said.
The judge said he accepted the bus driver’s evidence that he “has no aversion generally against people who are black”, which would be “utterly objectionable”, but also found the driver had said what Mr Doran alleged he said.
The judge also accepted as true evidence that, as the driver was unleashing “his diatribe”, he moved in such as way as to cause Mr Doran to instinctively recoil to his left thinking he was about to be hit.
Many people have witnessed or been at the receiving end of so-called road rage incidents, the judge added.
He said did not accept evidence of either the bus driver or one of his colleagues, who was a passenger on the bus that day, when they said Mr Doran made a rude gesture through his car window.
The judge found the totality of the bus driver’s actions, including the aggressive way he approached the car and the tone of his remarks, prompted Mr Doran to believe he was about to be hit and to instinctively recoil. An assault had therefore been committed, he said.
The issue of battery had rightly not been pursued in the appeal and he also did not find false imprisonment had occurred, the judge added.
