A MAN who suffered a serious head injury when a car crossed on to the wrong side of the road and collided into his head-on, killing its driver, has been awarded just over €1.3 million in damages by the High Court.
Mr Justice Kevin Cross said Peter Fagan (32), Station Court Park, Clonsilla, Dublin, was, before the crash, on course for a career as an engineer but had been left with significant physical injuries.
Mr Fagan had left Dublin and was travelling northwards on May 2nd, 2005, to pick up his girlfriend and go for dinner when, on the road near Navan, Co Meath, a car crossed on to the wrong side of the road and crashed head-on into his car, the judge said.
The circumstances of the incident were such that liability was not an issue and, unfortunately, the driver of the other car died.
Mr Justice Cross was delivering judgment on proceedings by Mr Fagan against a personal representative of the deceased driver of the other car, Nora Daly.
Mr Fagan had no memory of the crash, the judge noted.
As a result of the incident, Mr Justice Cross said, Mr Fagan required emergency operations and suffered double vision which persisted for some time before healing itself. This was suggestive of a significant closed head injury.
While there was no dispute about Mr Fagan’s physical injuries, the issue in the case was to what extent his personality had changed since the collision.
The judge said he did not believe that before the accident Mr Fagan was suffering from any personality disorder.
He found that had it not been for the crash, Mr Fagan would have progressed in his career and probably achieved his master’s degree earlier.
He also found that Mr Fagan would have had the skills necessary to diversify away from the building sector after the industry collapsed or to have found employment abroad in the engineering field.
Mr Fagan had made a remarkable physical recovery from serious and potentially life-threatening physical injuries, which themselves would entitle him to significant compensation, the judge said.
He awarded some €1.38 million damages, including €1.1 million to include loss of earnings and past and future medical care.