A mother of five whose husband died following a road accident in which he was hit on the head by a stone which shattered the windscreen of their car secured damages of £274,500 and costs at the High Court yesterday.
Ms Justice Laffoy was told Mr Kevin Fitzpatrick (43) died after a large stone came through the windscreen of the car in which he and his family were travelling. The stone hit Mr Fitzpatrick.
Mrs Fiona Fitzpatrick, of Cloghascoilte, Barna, Co Galway, took proceedings against Mr Brendan Furey, Corrandulla, Co Galway, arising from the accident on the Galway-Barna road on October 24th, 1994. Proceedings against the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland were dismissed.
In her reserved judgment yesterday, Ms Justice Laffoy said the evidence established as a matter of probability that the stone which injured Mr Fitzpatrick was propelled from between the tyres of the twin wheels on the rear of Mr Furey's lorry.
Submissions will be heard later as to how the award should be apportioned between Mrs Fitzpatrick and her children, who now range from seven to 15. The judge said Mrs Fitzpatrick and her children were doubly unfortunate in that, because of "public policy considerations", she had to preclude them from getting what she thought was the full value of their claim.
Mrs Justice Laffoy said the car was being driven by Mr Fitzpatrick - a dental technician. The stone hit him on the head, and he died two days later at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
The crucial question on liability was where the stone came from. She had heard evidence from witnesses who were at or in the vicinity of the place where the accident occurred and had forensic evidence and evidence from technical experts.
Mrs Fitzpatrick was a frontseat passenger. Three of the children were in the back seat. Mrs Fitzpatrick testified that as they were driving towards the junction of the main road - Barna Road - and Cappagh Road when approaching Barna, she remembered a heavy truck coming out of the junction and driving in the Galway direction.
As the truck passed them, the windscreen shattered. Momentarily, Mrs Fitzpatrick turned back to see if the children were all right. She felt the car beginning to veer left. She grabbed the steering wheel and took the car away from its lefthand veer. Her husband's arms fell off the wheel and she realised he was severely injured and unconscious.
As she saw a BMW car coming towards her, she turned the steering wheel left and stopped the car. Mrs Fitzpatrick ran to the driver's door. When she opened it, a large stone fell out.