It was largely composed of €150,000 for past and future pain/suffering and €250,000 for loss of future earnings as she had been unable to return to work full time as a school secretary and would only be able to do part-time work in the future.
Ms O’Doherty’s seat was broken in the impact and her vehicle written off as a result of the damage. She sustained neck, back and knee injuries but most significantly an injury to her coccyx bone which subsequently developed into a serious long term condition known as coccydynia. She underwent three procedures under anaesthetic in an attempt to alleviate her ongoing pain.
Among the errors of the High Court were also that insufficient weight was given to the evidence that Ms O’Doherty is a particularly skilled, valuable, adaptable, competent and hard-working employee, the defendants’ side argued.