Sexton v O'Keeffe

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1968
• Date: 01 January 1968
• Court: Supreme Court

(S.C.)

Sexton

and

O'Keeffe

Loss of earnings -Expectation of natural life and of working life - Whether damages assessed unreasonable.

On the 28th December, 1961, the plaintiff was travelling as a passenger in the defendant's motor car when it crashed into a pole at the side of the road and the plaintiff was seriously injured. Apart from numerous bruises, abrasions and cuts on the face, limbs and body, the plaintiff's nose was split down the centre and through to the skull, leaving the flesh turned back on each side of the split over her eyes, and the bones of her nose were shattered; her right femur was fractured badly at the neck and displaced, her left femur had an extensive and complicated fracture in the lower third, extending into the knee joint; and her left tibia was shattered just below the knee, involving the entire lower portion of the knee joint. While the plaintiff was in hospital, she had to be anaesthetised nine times and she underwent four major operations, all of which involved very considerable subsequent pain. The plaintiff was discharged from hospital on the 9th November, 1962, and claimed damages from the defendant. The trial of the action took place on the 18th November, 1963, at which date the plaintiff was just over 65 years old. As a result of her injuries the plaintiff, even with the aid of crutches, was able to walk only short distances with great difficulty; she was unable to earn money and could not qualify for a pension of £4 per week to which she would have become entitled when she was 70 years old, unless she had then elected to continue working for another two years. At the date of the trial of her action the plaintiff would have been earning £11 per week plus overtime earnings which together amounted to the sum of £606 per year. The jury assessed the plaintiff's damages at the sum of £10,499 and judgment for that amount was given in her favour. The jury were not asked to make distinct assessments of the plaintiff's special and general damages, nor did they have the assistance of the evidence of any actuary when considering the part of the special damages relating to the valuation of the plaintiff's loss, after the date of the trial, of her capacity to earn money. The plaintiff's other special damages were agreed at the sum of £2,145, consisting of £945 for hospital and medical expenses and £1,200 for loss of earnings up to the date of the trial. Held by the Supreme...