Moreno v Motor Insurers’ Bureau

Miss Moreno was a young mother on holiday with her toddler son and partner in Zakynthos, Greece. Whilst walking alongside a road on 17 May 2011, she was struck and grievously injured by a car whose driver was uninsured. Her injuries resulted in amputation of her leg and significant damage to the other leg.

She brought a claim before the courts of England and Wales against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau pursuant to the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance)(Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/37).

Liability to compensate Miss Moreno is admitted by MIB, but it asserts that the previous Court of Appeal decisions in Jacobs v MIB [2010] EWCA Civ 1208; [2011] 1 WLR 2609 and Bloy and Ireson v MIB [2013] EWCA 1543; [2014] PIQR P9 were both wrongly decided and that the correct interpretation of the Regulations requires her damages to be assessed in accordance with the laws of Greece.

The claim raises questions of wider importance for English victims of uninsured and untraced drivers where the accident takes place in another Member State. In particular, important questions as to the relevance of defences or exceptions created by the compensation body of the place of the accident and also issues of contributory negligence or other limits or caps on damages may turn on the outcome of this case.

The UK Supreme Court gave permission for a leapfrog appeal from the decision of Gilbart J on 28 July 2015.

News 28 Jul, 2015