Woman who does not remember being hit by car has claim dismissed
Posted on 4th February 2020 at 19:33
Order for costs made against 35-year-old who took €60,000 damages case against MIBI
A 35-year-old woman has told a court she did not remember being hit by an untraced car and did not remember why she had ended up bleeding from a head wound and crying on a footpath in Navan in the middle of the night in April 2016.
Iwona Trzcialkowska took a €60,000 damages claim against the Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI), which covers uninsured or untraced drivers, on the basis that she had been struck by an untraced vehicle. She barrister Philip Fennell, counsel for the MIBI, she had no memory of having been struck.
Her hands had been grazed and her head had been bleeding when she realized she was sitting on the footpath of Circular Road, Navan, being tended to by two men and a woman. She had been taken to Navan hospital by gardaí.
In cross-examination Ms Trzcialkowska said she had made a statement in which she had said she must have fallen. She did not remember having been hit by a car.
Polish native Ms Trzcialkowska, who had been living at Academy Square, Navan, said on the night of the incident she had left home to meet a man, a good friend, who had flown in from Poland and who had booked into the Newgrange Hotel in Navan.
She agreed with Mr Fennell she had been with this man drinking cocktails in a room in the hotel from about 9pm and had left at 3am. She had said in her statement she had not allowed the man to accompany her as, at the time, her then partner was not supposed to know.
Judge Gerard Griffin agreed with Mr Fennell that the case should be dismissed before anyone on behalf of the MIBI should have to give evidence.
Judge Griffin said it was for Ms Trzcialkowska to satisfy the court on the balance of probability that she had been struck by a vehicle which had been untraced. She had not shown that she had been hit by any vehicle of any kind.
“Every insured driver has to contribute to the MIBI in respect of accidents involving untraced and uninsured drivers and I will make an order for costs against Ms Trzcialkowska,” the judge said.
Share this post: