Mother with catastrophic injuries from collision claims €1m loss of earnings

A mother-of-three who was catastrophically injured when the car her husband was driving collided with a tractor on a Cork road has claimed €1 million in loss of earnings, the High Court has heard.

Counsel for Cork County Council, Fergus O’Hagan SC, told the High Court the claim in the case of Olivia Redmond O’Callaghan for €1 million in loss of earnings was “extremely spurious” and “goes to the credibility of the entire case”.

In a submission to the court, counsel told Mr Justice Tony O’Connor when an application was made to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board in 2013 in this case there was no claim for loss of earnings. However, he said, later €744,000 “came out of the blue“ and this, he said has since escalated to €1 million.

Olivia Redmond O’Callaghan was aged 28 and left with massive brain damage and needing 24-hour care for life after the accident on the old Glanmire to Cork Road in 2011.

Her counsel Dr John O’Mahony SC previously told the High Court the mother, who was pregnant with her third child at the time of the accident, suffered massive brain damage which has “rendered her totally incapacitated”.

She has been left with the “most appalling repertoire of profoundly serious injuries” and does not recognise her children, he said. Her husband, Myles O’Callaghan, who was driving the car when it collided with a tractor died in the accident.

In the second day of the hearing where Ms Redmond O’Callaghan has sued her late husband’s estate, the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) and Cork County Council over the accident, Mr Justice O’Connor was told the issue of loss of earnings was a highly contentious aspect of the case.

Counsel for the MIBI, Edward Walsh SC, said Ms Redmond O’Callaghan had not worked for three years before the accident. He said he fully accepted that the case involved one of the most profound injuries you could imagine. Nevertheless, he said Ms Redmond O’Callaghan had no insight, and he argued in that case she was not entitled to general damages, only special damages, such as care.

Mr Walsh also contended liability should be heard first in the case.

Olivia Redmond O’Callaghan, who is now aged 37, from Gowlane South, Donoughmore, Co Cork, has taken her action through her stepfather Liam Power.

It is claimed against Cork County Council that it constructed a road which was allegedly defective and dangerous to road users. Cork County Council claims the collision was caused by the alleged negligence of the late Mr O’Callaghan .

The MIBI in its defence has claimed Mrs Redmond O’Callaghan permitted herself to be carried in a car for which she allegedly knew there was no valid insurance policy in place.

Mr Justice O’Connor will on Thursday hear further submissions .