Negligence and compensation in a civil case

If a person has acted negligently and their negligence has caused you loss, you may be entitled to compensation from that person.

This may happen in a number of situations.

For example:

• If you are injured in a car accident due to another road user’s fault.
• If you are injured during an assault or during a poorly carried out medical procedure.
• If your house or apartment was poorly built, you may be entitled to sue those responsible for its construction.
• If you are given advice which is incorrect and, after acting upon it, you are financially worse off.

The person who may have acted negligently is called the “wrongdoer”. If the wrongdoer’s act or omission is considered negligent, it must meet certain conditions:

• The wrongdoer must owe you a duty of care
• The wrongdoer must have failed to meet that duty of care in their actions, and
• The act or omission must have caused your loss or injury

A duty of care is when a person ought to take care to avoid causing harm to another person when it is reasonable to foresee that their act or failure to act may harm another person.

For example:

• A driver has a duty of care to other road users
• A business has a duty of care to its customers
• A doctor has a duty of care to their patients

When deciding if a wrongdoer has failed to meet their duty of care, the court will judge their actions against an objective standard. For example, they will consider:

• Did the driver exercise the normal amount of caution in the circumstances?
• Did the business comply with all its obligations?
• Did the doctor act to the standard of a comparable colleague?

If you are entitled to compensation, it will normally be composed of 2 elements:

1. General damages for the non-financial losses, such as pain and suffering
2. Special damages for the financial losses, such as loss of income and extra expenses

If you have been in a driving accident or collision, you must prove that the person (wrongdoer) you are suing is to blame for the accident and the injuries that you have suffered.

In some cases, a number of people may be partly to blame for an accident and the injuries. This includes you. In such a situation, the court will apportion or divide the blame between the different people involved.

For example, if you are a driver who has suffered an injury in a car accident but you were not wearing a seatbelt, you may be 15% to blame for the injuries you suffered. As a result, the court may only award you 85% of the compensation that your injuries are valued at.

Your claim for compensation will be divided into two parts.

General damages

General damages are compensation for the pain, suffering and inconvenience you experienced and will continue to experience as a result of the accident.

The court will decide the level of damages by estimating the gravity (seriousness) of the injuries. It will consider all the medical evidence put before it, notably the pain already suffered by the person suing and the assessment of the effect of the injury in the future – how long and to what intensity the injured person is likely to continue suffering.

Special damages

Special damages are compensation for the financial costs and expenses, in the past and the future, you incurred as a result of the accident.

Special damages include:

• The cost of repairing your car (if relevant)
• The medical costs you incurred
• Your loss of earnings as a result of being unable to go to work, and
• All expenses, including travel, home-help and similar that you incurred

You may be asked to produce receipts and bills to prove you have incurred all of these expenses, so it is important to keep a file of every bill and receipt.

If you are involved in litigation or legal proceedings, you will probably need legal representation. You can learn more about accessing civil legal aid and advice in Ireland.

To find out if you are eligible for legal aid or advice from the Legal Aid Board, contact your nearest law centre.