1996/99
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Blacksod carer awarded £20,000 for looking after neighbour
1 April 1998
A WOMAN who cared for her elderly neighbour for nearly four years prior to his death was awarded £20,000 at Ballina Circuit Court.
Sheila Monaghan, Faulmore, Blacksod, Ballina, took the action for monies she claimed she was owed after her neighbour Michael Keane promised to leave her his lands, money and cattle on his death in return for caring for him. Mr. Keane, who she looked after from November 1985 up to his death in 1989 at the age of 85, would otherwise have been placed in a nursing home instead of living out in days in his own home.
She took the action for compensation against McHale solicitors, administrators of the estate, and Beatrice Walker Scanlon, a cousin of the deceased living in America who she claimed, Mr. Keane did not even know existed.
Mr. John Jordan (representing Ms. Monaghan) outlined that four years prior to Mr. Keane's death it was agreed the plaintiff would look after the deceased. He would give her his lands in Blacksod. However he had nothing done to achieve the objective of this agreement. After his death Ms. Monaghan put in a claim for £10,000, which he said 'is modest for what she did.'
Ms. Monaghan told the court she was widowed in 1980 and had four children to raise. Mr. Keane lived across the road from her home and when he was ill in 1985 asked her to look after him 'and everything would be mine.' 'I did everything for him,' she said, including putting on fires, making his breakfast, tidying the house, giving him his dinner, feeding and cleaning out from his three cattle and his washing. She also brought him to the doctor. 'I was always there for him,' she added.
She recalled on the day he died going in to his house. He had a heart attack and she called the doctor. Then the ambulance arrived. Before he left, she said, he handed her his bank book which had £10,000 and said ''that's yours'. There was also a purse with £1,000 which he gave the nurse in the ambulance. It was later used to cover the cost of the burial.
Ms. Monaghan said Mr. Keane's late wife's niece arrived from England and demanded the bank book and cards for the cattle. She handed them over, adding 'they were not in a very nice mood when they came to me. I did not want trouble so I handed them over.' The cattle were sold and later the property for £40,000. But despite the niece's effort, she was not going to get anything out of the estate. She took everything out of the house.
It transpired, she said, that a second cousin living in America, Beatrice walker Scanlon, was next of kin to the deceased. Ms. Monaghan called to McHale solicitors and was offered £500. She later wrote to Walker Scanlon and demanded £10,000. No reply was forthcoming. Mr. McHale was acting for Walker Scanlon but had also been Ms. Monaghan's solicitor. He advised her to seek another solicitor as he could not act for the two parties.
Ms. Monaghan said she had a family to rear and would not have taken on looking after the deceased if she was not to receive payment as she could not afford to. The woman in America did not know him, she said, and did not do his washing. He said he did not want to go in to a home and he remained in his own home until the end because she cared and looked after him. 'I looked after him as good as I would look after my own father,' she said. 'I was there when he needed me and he knew that.' Witness added: 'He did not even know that they existed in America.'
Ms. Lorraine Scully (representing the defendants) said Mr. Keane was not the registered owner of the land at the time he made the alleged promise to Ms. Monaghan.
Ms. Monaghan's sister, Mrs. Bridie Keane and her husband Harry told the court the plaintiff had given great care to the deceased in the four years before his death. The plaintiff's daughter, Mary Monaghan, said she was present when Mr. Keane told her mother he would leave her everything if she looked after him. She would not have done what she did if this agreement was not in place.
Mr. Liam McHale, solicitor, and defendant in the action, told the court he was appointed administrator of the estate in 1992. He was approached by the deceased man's niece from England but it soon became obvious she was not entitled to anything. After enquires to find the real next of kin four relations were identified and written to in America. Only one, Beatrice Walker Scanlon, a co-defendant in the action, got in contact. In the meantime Ms. Monaghan advised him she had done some work. This was accepted and was not in dispute. What she should be paid was in dispute.
After Walker-Scanlon 'failed to respond in a positive way' he suggested Monaghan write directly to her and 'as woman to woman point out what he did.' She received no reply. He then received instructions not to pay anything. He thought he had made it clear to Ms. Monaghan, as politely as he could, that he could not act for her any longer.
The schedule of assets valued the lands at £17,000; cash on person at £880; money in the bank at £7.027.99; household goods £100; and cattle £800. The lands were sold in small pieces for a total of £34,500. There had been a delay in finalising the sale as the land was registered in the name of Mr. Keane's late father-in-law. The total estate was valued in excess of £40,000.
Judge Harvey Kenny said he was satisfied the deceased benefited considerably from November 1985 to the day of his death. He benefited from being able to stay at home and that for him was very important. 'It is very important for old people to live out their days in their own holdings. 'Sheila Monaghan had facilitated the man. She had a lot of work to do and some of it was of an unpleasant nature. She should be renumerated for that.
He was assessing compensation at £20,000 plus £4,000 costs. A sum of around £3,000 in court was to be paid immediately with the balance to be paid when the sale of the lands were completed. To clarify the amount of money held in the bank (Ms. Monaghan claimed there was £11,000 when Mr. Keane died), Judge Kenny also directed that the Bank of Ireland in Belmullet and Ballina furnish a print out of the account from January 1985 to the close of the account.
Connaught Telegraph - News & Sport - April 1998
