Mum’s compo No7
Latest payout takes woman’s road accident claim settlements to €111k
AN accident-prone mother of eight has received her seventh compo payment bringing to €111,000 the total she has received in damages since age seven.
Ann Marie Mongans received her latest award of €5,000 after being injured in a car driven by her aunt. It is the lowest sum the 37-year-old has received in her long claim history after Judge Keys said aggravation to her pre-existing back injury from the accident “isn’t as severe as she says”. He told Ennis Circuit Court: “I would regard it as quite minor. “I know that if I am unhappy with evidence, these cases can be thrown out on their face. This is not a case that comes within that category. The injuries sustained were of a minor nature, even though they aggravated her injury.” Ms Mongans, who was in the back seat, claimed the crash at a bridge outside Ennis on May 22, 2012, had exacerbated a pre-existing injury and she was now anxious being a passenger. She told the court: “I try to wear high heels. I can’t wear them for any more than five minutes and I have to take them off.” Ms Mongans also claimed she now has trouble lifting or bathing her kids and doing daily tasks. Her back had been injured in a road accident six months earlier and she received €10,000. In evidence, Ms Mongans said on impact, the car driven by her aunt Rose Keenan “shook and rattled”. The first garda on the scene, Brian Jackman, told the court the vehicle had only “glanced” the left of the bridge causing “scrapes on its left hand side”. He said that as Ms Mongans told him her children in the back seat were “stiff and sore” and possibly injured, the Fire Service, in keeping with safety protocols, cut the roof off the car to remove them. The May 2012 accident is the seventh accident for which Ms Mongans, of Clancy Park, Ennis, Co Clare, has received compensation Aged seven in 1988, Ms Mongans got €13,970 after being knocked down In 1998 she was awarded €9,000 as a result of a road traffic accident In 1999 she got €7,000 following a road accident in Ennis In 2004 she received €11,000 after a road crash at Market Street in Ennis In 2006 Ms Mongans got €55,000 as a result of breaking her pelvis and injuring her back in a crash in Ennis, and In 2011 she received €10,000 in compo following a crash in Limerick.