Snell v Haughton

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 15 July 1971
• Docket Number: [1968. No. 246 P.]
• Date: 15 July 1971

(S.C.)

Snell

and

Haughton

Pedestrian and motorist - Pedestrian walking on left hand side of road at night - Contributory negligence - Personal injuries - Damages - Broken leg.

The plaintiff, a farm labourer aged 24 years, was walking along the left margin of an unlighted road in the country on a dark wet night in August, 1966, with his back to the traffic, when he was knocked down and injured by the defendant's motor car which was travelling in the same direction as the plaintiff. The plaintiff could have walked on the footpath on the other side of the road. At the trial of the plaintiff's action in 1969, in which he claimed damages for the negligence of the defendant, the jury found that both parties had been negligent. The jury also apportioned 75% of the fault to the plaintiff and the remaining 25% to the defendant, and they awarded the plaintiff £1,500 as general damages for his pain and suffering to the date of the trial and a further £850 for his future pain and suffering. At the hearing of the plaintiff's appeal, he submitted that the apportionment was unreasonable and that the sum of £850 was inadequate, and the defendant submitted that the latter sum was excessive as the plaintiff had recovered from his injuries at the time of the trial. Held by the Supreme Court ( Ó Dálaigh C.J., Walsh, Budd, FitzGerald and McLoughlin JJ.), in disallowing the appeal, 1, that the apportionment of...