A FORMER officer of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has been awarded €7,500 damages by the High Court for embarrassment and distress suffered over being wrongfully expelled from the organisation.
Patrick McMahon, Brooklawn, Clontarf, Dublin, had sued the association over a decision to terminate his membership in June 2006.
A year after legal proceedings were initiated, the IRHA admitted the expulsion breached fair procedures and the High Court was later asked to assess damages.
Yesterday, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy ruled the wrong inflicted on Mr McMahon, who had held the positions of secretary and chairman of the association’s Co Dublin branch, had been substantially redressed after two years and he was entitled to an award of €7,500 for distress. She also awarded Mr McMahon costs at the lower Circuit Court level.
During the hearing, Ms Justice Laffoy heard the IRHA council voted in June 2006 to expel Mr McMahon because of a letter he wrote to a Clare County Council engineer alleging certain road works in Ennis were being carried out in a dangerous manner.
It was argued this letter, in which Mr McMahon claimed to represent the Dublin branch of the association, brought the organisation into disrepute. Liam Brewer, IRHA acting president, said he proposed the expulsion because of a series of incidents in which Mr McMahon appeared to be “out of control” and damaging the organisation, including his allegations senior members of the association were “on the take” from National Toll Roads.
The association accepted the expulsion had not been done fairly or in accordance with procedures and, a year after legal proceedings were initiated, it published an apology to Mr McMahon its trade magazine, Fleet.
Mr McMahon claimed his good name was damaged and he was unable to promote his business as a haulier within the framework of the IRHA. The association argued damages should be nominal and there was no evidence he suffered any damage to his good name or that his business had suffered.
Ms Justice Laffoy said Mr McMahon was a businessman wrongfully expelled from an association of his business peers, but the impact of that wrong was more akin to an action for a holiday that did not turn out to be what it seemed, rather than an employment case.