A financial consultant who was injured when he attempted to stop Renault Distributors from removing its car from his driveway has been awarded damages in the Circuit Civil Court.
Judge Katherine Delahunt, awarding Mr Seamus Sutcliffe €7,400 for trespass and assault and battery, said the company had taken matters into its own hands when repossessing a Laguna. However, she was unhappy with Mr Sutcliffe's behaviour when he had discovered Renault taking the car from his driveway at St Peter's Terrace, Walkinstown, Dublin, and reduced the award on the grounds of contributory negligence to €6,550.
Judge Delahunt said Mr Sutcliffe had bought a Laguna in August 1994, and because of mechanical problems wanted a new replacement car from Renault. Repairs to his Laguna were carried out in June 1997, and Renault's Mr James McCarthy had told him his car was ready, and it wanted its courtesy car back, which Mr Sutcliffe had refused to do. On July 2nd, Renault repossessed the car.
Judge Delahunt said when Mr McCarthy saw Mr Sutcliffe approach as he drove from the driveway, he should have stopped. While Mr Sutcliffe, by holding on to the car, suffered soft tissue injury, claims of ongoing complaints were not credible.