Hi °C | Lo °C THE mother of a young man killed in a car crash over ten years ago is to receive €63,500 in a settlement against a body which compensates victims of uninsured drivers, the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).
Colin McCann (25) was a passenger in an uninsured car driven by Ciaran Delaney (28) from Celbridge, Co Kildare, when the vehicle left the road and crashed at Bracetown, Clonee, Co Meath, on June 6, 2002.
Both men died in the accident.
Mr McCann's mother, Brid McCann, Tara Court, Navan, Co Meath, sued the legal representative of the estate of Mr Delaney and the MIBI.
Outlining the settlement in the High Court today to Ms Justice Mary Irvine, Johnathan Kilfeather SC for Mrs McCann, said the case was now only against the MIBI.
The deceased was a single man who worked as a bricklayer and lived with his mother to whom he handed over between €40 and €50 per week, Mr Kilfeather said.
The MIBI had initially fought the case on the basis that the car was uninsured, the driver was intoxicated and Mr McCann had not been wearing a seat belt, he said. Toxicology reports had shown levels of intoxicants in both deceased men, he said.
While Mr Kilfeather had put the value of the case at €100,000, a figure of €70,001 was eventually agreed with the MIBI.
The court heard Mr McCann's sisters and grandmother's had waived any claim to compensation for distress in favour of their mother, but his father Joseph, who was separated from his mother, had not.
After hearing from Mr and Mrs McCann about how their son's death had affected them, Ms Justice Irvine ordered that €6,500 be paid from the settlement to Mr McCann.
