[Article] Ex-hurler loses Irish Rail damages claim

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...264352769.html

Ex-hurler loses Irish Rail damages claim
RAY MANAGH

A 40-YEAR-OLD former inter-county hurler has lost a €38,000 damages claim against Iarnród Éireann.

Barrister Seamus Breen told the Circuit Civil Court that Pat Collier had been a train driver for the rail company when he suffered an accident with his foot in January 1998.

He told Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery the case had started in the High Court, but had been transferred.

Mr Collier, of Derrynaseera, Colraine, Co Laois, said he had played a lot of club and county hurling, winning the Leinster Championship with his county in 1996.

On January 13th, 1998, he was sitting in the cab of his locomotive at Heuston Station in Dublin when the seat collapsed on to his right foot, injuring his big toe.

He attended the Mater hospital, Dublin, and was told he could have surgery for the injury, but it would have meant the end of his hurling career at the age of 28, which he would not accept. He said he was an established county hurler at the time and knew he had at least four or five years of hurling left. He declined the surgery.

He told Jeri Ward, counsel for Iarnród Eireann, that when his toe healed he felt the injury made little difference to his hurling ability.

Mr Collier agreed with Ms Ward that his medical expert found a considerable deformity of his right big toe had not been caused by the incident but was due to extensive osteo-arthritis due to multiple injuries in hurling games.

Judge Joseph Mathews said experts on both sides agreed that either the spring on the driver’s chair failed or Mr Collier inadvertently kicked the release lever.

Since there was no evidence of fault in the chair, he had to dismiss Mr Collier’s claim.