Uber delivery cyclist (36) settles €60k damages claim against motorist and MIBI

Ray Managh

A Uber delivery cyclist, who crashed when the door of a parked car was opened into a cycle lane, has settled a €60,000 damages claim for personal injury against a motorist and the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland.

Virgilio Almeida Cardoso Neto told the Circuit Civil Court on Monday that he had no chance to stop or avoid crashing into the door of a car that had been stopped partly in the cycle lane and on Crumlin Road, Dublin.

Neto, of Royston, Kimmage road West, Kimmage, Dublin, told Judge Terence O’sullivan his left hand had impacted with the open door and he had to have surgery under general anaesthetic to have a wire repair to the fractured little finger of his left hand.

The 36-year-old food delivery courier sued the car driver Michael Joyce, Cushinstown, Rathfeigh, Tara, Co Meath, and the MIBI, claiming that Joyce had refused to exchange his details at the scene of the accident and who had been traced from a photo of his car registration.

He told barrister Matthew Jolley, who appeared with Agnieszka Siwiera Corcoran of Murray Flynn Solicitors, that the car had been parked partly in the cycle lane in darkness in December 2018 with neither flashing lights or distinct brake lights.

He claimed that when Joyce exited the car he had said: “Sorry, it was my children” but had refused to give him his name. He had taken a photo of Joyce’s car and later reported the accident to gardaí. He had been treated for his fractured finger in St James’s Hospital, Dublin.

During cross-examination about the details of the accident, Neto said it was his hand and not the handlebars of his bike that had struck the car. The court heard that Mr Joyce had been covered by insurance at the time.

When Judge O’Sullivan stated that Mr Neto’s finger injury was absolutely consistent with his evidence, counsel for both defendants sought time for talks with Mr Neto’s legal team.

Mr Jolley shortly afterwards told Judge O’Sullivan that the case had been settled and by consent it could be struck out with an order for costs. Judge O’Sullivan struck out the case with an order for costs against both defendants.