An Offaly man who had to have his right leg amputated below the knee after he was hit by a train while sitting beside a railway line "with a feed of alcoholic drink on him" was awarded €111,081 damages at the High Court yesterday.
Mr Justice O'Donovan had assessed gross damages at €740,539 but, because he held Mr Derek Raleigh to be 85 per cent negligent, he will receive just 15 per cent of that - €111,081. The judge put a stay on the award in the event of an appeal.
Mr Raleigh (28), a panel beater, Arden Road, Tullamore, had sued Iarnród Éireann, which the judge found was 15 per cent to blame for the accident, which occurred between 3.30 a.m.- 4.30 a.m. on August 12th, 1995, on the Clara-Tullamore rail line.
The judge said Mr Raleigh was largely the author of his own misfortune. "I cannot think of anything more irresponsible than that a grown man would sit on a railway line in the middle of the night with a feed of alcoholic drink on him," he said.
He said Mr Raleigh's wrongdoing was compounded by the fact that where he chose to sit on the line was such that he had little room to manoeuvre in case of an emergency because of the vegetation.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said he must also reflect the rail company's responsibility for failing to take appropriate steps to prevent trespass, which it must have known was taking place, by an apportionment of fault, albeit small.
The judge said Mr Raleigh and his girlfriend and others went to a part of the railway where, the plaintiff stated, people were accustomed to congregate from time to time for socialising and in particular having drinks. Access was gained by climbing a 4 ft 6 in wall and negotiating a steep bank.
Mr Raleigh conceded that he and others had been chased away from it on a number of occasions.
Having had some drinks there, others arrived and Mr Raleigh and his companions moved 200 yards away where they had more drink. Mr Raleigh's friends left and he and his girlfriend stayed. Mr Raleigh drank six or eight cans of lager. He and his girlfriend fell asleep on the sleepers. His next memory was of hearing the horn of a train, which woke him up.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said he was satisfied the company implicitly facilitated or tolerated access to the railway over the wall by its failure to take appropriate steps to prevent access that it could be faulted on that account. He was not persuaded that the train driver was in any way to blame.