Bowes v Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1990
• Date: 01 January 1990
• Docket Number: [S.C. No. 142 of 1988]
• Court: Supreme Court

Supreme Court

[S.C. No. 142 of 1988]

Bowes v. Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland

Dolores Bowes

Plaintiff

and

Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland Limited

Defendant

Cases mentioned in this report:—

Guaranty Trust Co. of New York v. Hannay & Co. [1915] 2 K.B. 536; [1914-15] All E.R. Rep. 24; 84 L.J.K.B. 1465; 113 L.T. 98; 21 Com. Cas. 67.

Re Clay, Clay v. Booth [1919] 1 Ch. 66; [1918-19] All E.R. Rep. 94; 119 L.T. 754.

Hanson v. Radcliffe U.D.C. [1922] 2 Ch. 490; [1922] All E.R. Rep. 160; 127 L.T. 509; 38 T.L.R. 667.

Walsh v. Motor Insurers' Bureau Ltd. (Unreported, High Court, Costello J., 14th March, 1979).

Cadbury Ireland Ltd. v. Kerry Co-operative Creameries Ltd. [1982] I.L.R.M. 77.

Insurance - Motor insurance - Motor Insurers' Bureau - Plaintiff claiming to have suffered serious and permanent disablement resulting from use of vehicle - Plaintiff unable to trace owner or driver of vehicle - Provision for ex gratia payment by Bureau - Whether courts have jurisdiction to decide if plaintiff had suffered disablement - Whether claim for declaratory relief disclosed cause of action.

Appeal from the High Court.

The facts have been summarised in the headnote and appear in the judgment of Finlay C.J., post. By notice of appeal dated the 15th June, 1987, the plaintiff appealed from the judgment and order of the High Court (Lardner J.) made on the 19th May, 1987, dismissing the plaintiff's claim on the grounds that it failed to disclose a cause of action.

The plaintiff's appeal was heard by the Supreme Court on the 18th July, 1987.

By an agreement made between the defendant and the Minister for Local Government the defendant agreed, subject to certain conditions and exceptions, to provide compensation to persons who had obtained a judgment against an uninsured driver or owner of a motor vehicle in respect of personal injuries caused by the negligent use of that vehicle. The agreement did not oblige the defendant to compensate persons who had been injured in an accident involving a motor vehicle the owner or driver of which could not be traced. In notes appended to the agreement the defendant stated that it would be prepared to consider the making of ex gratia payments in certain circumstances. These included cases where a person sustained serious and permanent disablement and where there was, in the view of the defendant, reasonable certainty that such disablement was caused by the negligent use of a motor vehicle the owner or driver of which could not be traced. The notes provided further that applications would only be considered where it was reasonably certain that if the owner or...