A judge has sent a strong message to insurers, calling one company’s deal with an alcoholic and drug-addicted father of an infant plaintiff “outrageous and scandalous.”
The former Quinn Insurance had acted in an “outrageous and scandalous” manner by doing a deal with a father who it knew had addiction issues of an infant plaintiff injured in a car accident.
An ex-garda (police officer) working for the now defunct insurance company (it was taken over by
Liberty Mutual in November 2011) offered the man €4,000 (euros), knowing he was a soft target, to ensure court action would not proceed.
According to an article in the
Irish Independent, neither the child nor his sister (who was also injured in the accident) ever benefited from the deal, with the money going instead to support the father’s drug and alcohol habits.
Longford Circuit Court in Ireland heard that the action dated back to June 2003 when the child, who was then two-and-a-half, was involved in a traffic accident. He was being carried by his sister when they were struck by a car.
Barrister Gerard Groarke told Judge Keenan Johnson that, within a couple of weeks a retired garda – working on behalf of Quinn Insurance – approached the children's father. The father was known by the ex-garda to have served time in prison.
The ex-garda offered him €4,000 - €2,000 on behalf of each child - on condition he made sure that no further proceedings were brought. The €4,000 was paid and it benefited neither child, said Groarke.
“The father will admit it was spent on drink in pubs and up alleyways on various substances. He was on the run at the time and his family did what he said,” Groarke told the court.
It was only discovered years later how the deal was done when the sister of the plaintiff enquired if there was money being held somewhere for her. (continued.)
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The proceedings before the court were in the name of the infant plaintiff suing by his mother against Quinn Insurance, now trading as Liberty Insurance, reported the
Independent.
The details of the case had been heard before another judge in December, but had come before Judge Keenan Johnson because a settlement offer of €30,000 had now been made by the defendants.
He was not recommending the settlement offer to the court.
The insurance company knew that the money was to go to the child plaintiffs and their actions were geared solely to generate profit for themselves, he pointed out.
The judge said the message had to be sent out to insurance companies in cases like this and said he considered €60,000 to be more appropriate (the equivalent of more than $85,200 Canadian).
