Three men withdraw claims for damages totalling €180,000

Three men have withdrawn claims for damages totalling €180,000 which were alleged by counsel in Dublin Circuit Civil Court to be fraudulent.

Barrister Martin FitzGerald told Judge Rory Mac Cabe that the defendant, Hertz car rental, had claimed fraud in defence documents challenging the personal injury claims of Audrius Stelmokas, Julius Zivelis and Deividas Kaciukas. Costs were awarded against each of the plaintiffs.

Counsel for the three Lithuanian men told Judge Mac Cabe, immediately the cases were called, that she had just received instructions to withdraw all the claims before the court.

Julius Zivelis (29) and the two other claimants had also sued Vladimiras Zubko, also a Lithuanian, who allegedly drove a car rented from Hertz into the rear of Kaciukas’s car in which they were passengers.

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Back pain

He claimed he was a front seat passenger in the car driven by Kaciukas and after the accident had developed increasing pain in his neck and lower back. Zivelis said he was the father of a newborn baby who was only days old at the time and as a result of his injuries he had been “impeded in lifting, bathing and bending to wash” his son.

Stelmokas (37), also a passenger in Kaciukas’s car, claimed he developed pain in his lower back and neck. On top of his €60,000 claim he sought €1,000 for loss of earnings.

Kaciukas (38) claimed he was driving the 18-year-old car and had stopped to give way to other traffic at a roundabout when the car driven by Zubko rear-ended his vehicle. He had developed pain in his lower back and neck.