€250k Personal Bus Accident Injury Compensation Settlement for Woman Who Suffered Brain Injuries

A 36-year-old Chinese woman who sustained a significant head injury when she was involved in a collision with a bus as she was crossing a road despite the red light showing for pedestrians has settled a pedestrian accident compensation claim for €250,000 in the High Court.

Shu Zhang, who is once again able to walk but still requires full time care, sustained the brain injury in an incident where a Bus Eireann bus crashed into her at Aston Quay, Dublin in 2004. She took the legal action through her aunt Shao Ze.

Ms Zhang was knocked unconscious after she was thrown up into the air and landed on the ground close to the back wheels of the bus. Ms Zhang was in a coma for eight or nine days after the road traffic accident.

She claimed that the Bus Eireann driver made no attempt to prevent the accident and also that he was driving without any adequate regard for the presence and position of other vehicles or pedestrians. Bus Eireann denied these claims and contended that the claimant walked out from the crowd suddenly and into the path of the bus. This was despite the fact that pedestrian light at Aston Quay crossing was red.

Barrister Jerry Healy SC told the court that Ms Zhang was 22 years of age when the accident took place and that another individual, a male, had crossed the road slightly before Ms Zhang. He informed Justice Kevin Cross that Ms Zhang had first arrived in Ireland in 2003 and was a student and a part time care assistant.

Justice Cross explained to Ms Zhang’s  family, who travelled from China to care for their daughter after the accident, that had the case gone to trial she may have lost and she could end up with nothing at all. The family had previously expressed some dissatisfaction with the settlement sum proposed.

A number of witnesses said that they had seen Ms Zhang push her way past bystanders before going out onto the road. Justice Cross told Ms Zhang’s family that the witnesses were willing to testify and their potential testimony could see the claimant could lose the case and receive no personal injury compensation.