BUS CRASH CLAIM NI WOMAN DENIES WORKOUT AT GYM AFTER ACCIDENT
A WOMAN suing over injuries to her neck and back after a rear-ending incident has denied entries on her Facebook page suggested that she had been working out at the gym after the incident occurred, a court has heard.
Lyndsey Gervin (33), a mother-oftwo from Coalisland, Co Tyrone, is one of nine people who sued for soft tissue injuries arising out of the August 2008 incident. A car allegedly collided with the rear of the minibus the group were travelling in while on their way to a night out in Dundalk.
They claim the car left the scene immediately and no one got its registration. The nine people, including the driver, brought a claim against the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI), which compensates victims of uninsured drivers. The MIBI denies their claims.
After seven of them were awarded compensation of between €3,000 (£2,529) and €8,500 (£7,171) in the Circuit Court, the MIBI appealed to the High Court in Dublin. The two who were not successful cross-appealed. A 10th man in the bus did not put in a claim. On the first day of the appeal hearing, Gervin told her own counsel, Patrick McCann, she had to “do away” with going to the gym after the incident.
Jonathan Kilfeather SC, for the MIBI, asked that Ms Gervin be recalled as certain information about her had been learned overnight from her Facebook page.
Mr Kilfeather put it to her that an entry she made in January 2014 stating “am actually too excited about going back to workout Defo Gona b good an stick at it this time...” meant she had been at the gym since the accident. So did further entries referring to “another night of pain lol”.
Ms Gervin said it was part of her efforts to advertise her partner’s gym among her friends. She claimed those references were a joke among the Facebook friends, and it did not mean she had gone back to the gym, and she denies that she did.
“That is girly stuff, it would not interest you,” she told Mr Kilfeather.
Ms Gervin told her own counsel her Facebook page was supposed to be private. Mr Kilfeather said the material had been downloaded from a public page.
The driver, David Morgan (40), also from Coalisland, said he could not remember anything about the incident other than he checked his mirrors and saw no cars.
Mr Morgan and Ms Gervin were among the successful seven in the Circuit Court. The others were: Deirdre Campbell (40); Joanne McGirr (35); her sister Fiona McGirr (38); Lyndsey’s sister Amanda Gervin (44); all from Coalisland, and Bernadette McBride (58), mother of Ms Campbell, from Glasslough, Co Monaghan.
Paul Campbell (39), Deirdre Campbell’s husband, and Kevin Kernaghan (43), also from Coalisland, lost in the Circuit Court and cross-appealed to the High Court.
The case resumes next week before Ms Justice Marie Baker.