A CHINESE HAIRDRESSER, who suffered whiplash injuries when the back of her car was “tipped” by another woman who was parking behind her, was yesterday awarded €16,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.
Yu Su sued Laura Brady, who told barrister Matthew Jolley, counsel for Su, she “really could not understand the extent of Su’s injuries” since she had only tipped her rear bumper.
Ms Brady, of All Saints Park, Raheny, Dublin, told Judge Jacqueline Linnane she was parking behind Su’s car in a laneway off Clontarf Road when the incident occurred.
“I reversed into the space and was moving forward to straighten up my car when I hit Ms Su’s rear bumper,” Brady said.
She said she had apologised to Su and, with her son, Stephen, exchanged insurance details. There was no damage to her own car, but there were marks on Su’s car. Su abused her verbally and had “ranted and raved” about her car having been devalued because of the impact.
Su, (41) of Kilmore Avenue, Artane, Dublin, told Jolley, who appeared with Murray Flynn Maguire solicitors, that she was parked, with her hand brake on and had turned in her seat to get out when Brady hit her rear bumper.
Injuries
Su, with the help of an interpreter, denied that Brady first of all pulled up alongside her car and reversed into a parking space behind her before the collision.
Su, who has been in Ireland for 15 years, told the court she had suffered injuries to her neck and left shoulder and later suffered numbness in her left arm.
She had taken pain killers for a month after the accident, but had given them up when she almost choked on one. Her husband was also able to treat her pain by acupuncture.
She said that three months after the June 2014 accident she was still suffering significant pain and discomfort in her neck, back and shoulders.
Whiplash
Forensic engineer Alan Conlan told Mr Jolley that academic research in the US had revealed probable potential for whiplash injury in collisions of just five miles an hour.
Conlan said the fact that Ms Su’s posture to her right in preparing to leave her car and that she was not wearing a seat belt when hit could have contributed to the extent of her injuries.
Judge Linnane, awarding Su just under €16,000 damages said there was clear low speed contact between both vehicles and medical reports of injuries had been agreed between the parties.
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