A farmer who was paralysed from the neck down after he crashed his van into a wall sued the owners of two licensed premises who he claimed served him drink and allowed him to drive his vehicle knowing he was drunk.
Yesterday, in the High Court in Cork, the case brought by Mr Denis Murphy (55), from Clonbanin, Mallow, was resolved with an order to strike out the action brought against The Duhallow Lodge Hotel, Kanturk, and its owners, Edward and Mary Canny, and against William and Kay Napier, owners of the Roundabout Tavern, Mallow.
Mr Justice Smith was told an ex-gratia payment would be made by the hoteliers and the publicans to Mr Murphy.
It is believed a figure in the region of £150,000 was offered by the hoteliers and publicans, but after the case was settled, Mr Olan Kelleher, solicitor for the defendants, would not comment on the outcome or confirm the amount of the ex-gratia payment offered by his clients.
Mr Murphy had attended a shareholders' meeting of Ballyclough Co-Operative Creamery Ltd and Dairygold Co-Operative Society Ltd in Mallow on August 14th, 1990.
Following that meeting he went to the Roundabout Tavern in Mallow where he consumed a considerable amount of drink and became inebriated.
He was driven by Mrs Kay Napier to his van which was parked at Mallow Racecourse and he drove from there to the Duhallow Lodge where he consumed more drink. On his way home he crashed his van into a wall on the Killarney road and suffered spinal injuries which left him paralysed from the neck down.
Mr Murphy claimed the publicans had a duty of care to ensure that he should not have driven his vehicle while drunk and that they should not have served him such large amounts of alcohol when he was drunk.