Damages of €189,000 awarded to woman whose leg was crushed by car sliding on ice

Personal injuries - road traffic accident occurred in November 2010 - heavy falls of snow in the preceding days - on the evening in question, the plaintiff had walked with her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend to the house of the plaintiff’s mother - plaintiff was helping a neighbour move their car in the snow - a vehicle driven by the third named defendant came down the hill and the driver lost control of the vehicle and crossed over the far carriageway and went into the ditch, where it collided with the rear of the second defendant’s vehicle, causing it to be shunted forward and to roll over the plaintiff’s left ankle - engineer stated that surface of road was in a very dangerous condition due to the weather conditions - Garda Sergeant stated that the road was like a slide - plaintiff was part of the group of people who had gone to the assistance of the second defendant and her husband, with a view to assisting in removing the second defendant’s car from the ditch - second or third defendant are liable if they could not control their vehicle due to the weather conditions - the cause of the vehicles going into a skid was the negligence on the part of the respective drivers in either driving too fast, turning too sharply or braking too harshly, or a combination of all these factors, which caused their vehicles to go into a skid - court must have regard to the fact that while the second defendant’s car went into a skid and ended up in the ditch, no person was injured as a result of that event - plaintiff's basic mobility was dependant on wearing a specialised boot at all times - plaintiff is unable to walk barefoot - some three years and two months post accident she was reviewed, and it was noted that she remained disabled in relation to her hobbies of D.I.Y. and gardening - total damages of €189,000 awarded to plaintiff.