Bus Éireann has lost a claim that it should not be held vicariously liable for an assault committed on a cyclist on a footpath by one of its drivers.
The company had brought High Court proceedings after Scott Alexander Burns (38), The Orchard, Greenwood, Ayrfield, Dublin, was awarded €15,000 damages against Bus Éireann by Judge Jacqueline Linnane at Dublin Circuit Civil Court last January.
Mr Burns, an occupational therapist who works at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin, had alleged he was assaulted on a footpath in Dublin by a Bus Éireann driver, William Murray, who bent his right thumb so far back it tore the ligaments and muscles.
Bus Éireann had denied it had any liability for that assault and appealed Judge Linnane’s ruling to the High Court, arguing it should not be held vicariously liable for the actions of the driver. Yesterday, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, dismissed the appeal and found the driver had “just about” been acting during the course of his employment when the assault occurred.