A CIVIL engineer who is permanently brain damaged and hospitalised following a road accident more than 10 years ago was awarded £245,400 damages by the High Court yesterday.
Mr Justice Geoghegan, in a reserved judgment, also awarded £60,000 to the man's wife who brought a separate claim for damages for loss of consortium, as a result of her husband's injuries.
The awards in favour of Mr Dermot Coppinger (48), and his wife, Valerie, of Halldene Drive, Bishopstown, Cork, are against, Waterford Co Council. A stay was granted in the event of an appeal to the Supreme Court.
In Mr Coppinger's action the judge assessed total damages at £981,918, but apportioned fault bat 75 per cent for him and 25 per cent for the council, reducing his damages to £245,479. Mr Coppinger's damages against the council were for breach of requirements of EC directives ink relation to the fitting of under run safety barriers at the rear of trucks.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said that on December 6th, 1985, Mr Coppinger was very seriously injured on the Youghal Waterford road He was driving to Dungarvan with a fellow civil engineer when for no apparent reason the car collided into the rear of a council tipper truck. It was lawfully stopped on Mr Coppinger side of the road, close to the centre of it.
The stretch of roadway where the accident happened was long, straight and wide. There would have been plenty of room for Mr, Coppinger to pass the truck on the inside or, alternatively, he would have had plenty of time to stop. It would appear that Mr Coppinger misjudged the situation and did not realise until it was too late that the truck was stationary.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said Mr Coppinger injuries were quite appalling and all the more so because he was fully aware of the Following the accident, he was transferred to the neurological surgery department of Cork Regional Hospital from Ardkeen Hospital, Waterford. He is now in St Finbarr's Hospital, Cork.
He gradually learned to use an alphabet card which he now communicates with. He takes an interest in public affairs, reading two newspapers every day.
He also reads magazines and is fully alert and aware of everything happening around him. He has total paralysis of his expressive speech functions, apart from the odd sound.
In Mrs Coppinger's action, Mr Justice Geoghegan said that as there had been a total loss of consortium since the accident, which would continue indefinitely, she must recover damages. In allowing £60,000 to Mrs Coppinger for loss of consortium, the judge added, he would not reduce it by reason of Mr Coppinger's negligence.