{"id":489922,"date":"2026-06-09T02:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/489922\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T02:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:25:13","slug":"scrambler-bike-rider-loses-high-court-claim-following-dublin-crash-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/489922\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrambler bike rider loses High Court claim following Dublin crash \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The High Court<\/a> has dismissed a personal injuries action by a young driver of a scrambler bike who suffered serious injuries in a crash with a Kia Optima on a public road in Coolock, Dublin, five years ago.<\/p>\n

Judge Carmel Stewart dismissed the action by the scrambler bike driver, Dean Kane, against the driver of the Kia Optima, Ciaran Hearns, arising from the incident on September 27th, 2021, at Moatview Avenue, Glin Road, Coolock, Dublin 17<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stewart said Kane\u2019s injuries \u201cwere grave and required a lengthy period of rehabilitation\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the judge said although Kane was \u201cseriously injured\u201d, due to the many inconsistencies in his evidence she was not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the crash occurred as a result of negligence on behalf of Hearns.<\/p>\n

She therefore dismissed his claim. <\/p>\n

The crash took place in 2021 when there were no restrictions in place prohibiting the use of scrambler bikes on public roads. New regulations known as \u2018Grace\u2019s Law\u2019, required to fully implement a ban on the use of scrambler motorbikes in public places, came into effect in April.<\/p>\n

Grace Lynch (16) died in January after being hit by a scrambler<\/a> as she used a pedestrian crossing on Ratoath Road, Finglas.<\/p>\n

In the case before the High Court, Edel Quinn, an eyewitness to the crash at the junction where Clonshaugh Avenue joins Moatview Avenue, told the court she foresaw the collision occurring, due to Kane\u2019s \u201chigh speeds\u201d.<\/p>\n

A driver of a Toyota Yaris on the day and a witness on behalf of Hearns, Quinn said that based on Kane\u2019s path and speed, he would have collided with either Hearns or her own vehicle.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Father who was \u2018completely unaware\u2019 child was taken to Ireland seeks her returnOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In her written judgment, Stewart said overall she found the case to be unsatisfactory in nature, specifically pertaining to the manner in which Kane\u2019s case changed throughout, as if responding to Hearns\u2019s strong and consistent version of events. She said she was \u201cnot confident in the credibility\u201d of Kane\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n

The judge said there were several concerning issues in the case. <\/p>\n

She noted the fact that within moments of the crash, a van arrived at the scene from which two men emerged and wheeled the scrambler bike into it, together with the helmet, passing Hearns, shaken and bloodied in his vehicle, without expressing concern or alarm at his condition. <\/p>\n

Stewart said Kane\u2019s vehicle had not been seen since, and while it was suggested that it had been scrapped, there was no evidence to verify this assertion.<\/p>\n

In his evidence, Kane said he observed a car stopped at the junction box in front of him, indicating to make a right turn. Kane alleged that as he turned left, Hearns pulled out in front of him. <\/p>\n

He said he remembers being flung into the air following this and landing on the ground, in severe pain. <\/p>\n

Stewart said given the success of Kearns in this case, Kane would ordinarily be held liable for Kearns\u2019s costs. However, she said the parties would return to mention this matter on June 16th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The High Court has dismissed a personal injuries action by a young driver of a scrambler bike who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[53832,73,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-489922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin-17","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}