No claim for party injured fleeing crime scene

In the case of DAVID MICHAEL JOYCE (BY HIS LITIGATION FRIEND STEPHANIE TARRANT) v  EDWARD GERALD O’BRIEN and TRADEX INSURANCE CO LTD 2012 the High Court reaffirmed the legal principle that a case cannot be based on an illegal cause (Ex turpi causa non oritur actio).

In this fairly unusual case a claimant claimed damages from his uncle for personal injury arising out of a motor accident.  He also claimed against his uncle’s motor insurers.

The uncle had been driving a van and the claimant was standing on the rear footplate. He fell as the van negotiated a sharp turn and he sustained a severe head injury. The uncle pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving on the basis that he was driving too fast for the relevant road as the claimant was on the back of the van.

The claimant stated that his accident was caused by his uncle’s negligence. The insurer’s case was that the pair had stolen ladders from local residents and were making their escape when the accident occurred and, therefore, the uncle was not liable to the claimant as they had been engaged in a common criminal enterprise. It was also the insurers’s case that the stolen ladders had been placed inside the van but because of their length the rear van door had to remain open and, therefore, the claimant stood on the rear footplate holding on to the ladders and the van itself.

Applying the long estalblished legal principle the claimant’s case was dismissed.  The cases of Delaney v Pickett and Tradewise Insurance Services 2011 and Gray v Thames Trains  & others 2009 were considered and applied.