A woman has been awarded almost €233,500 in damages over a “significant” wrist injury suffered after she slipped and fell while jiving on the dance floor of a Co Donegal hotel.
Carmel Duddy, a mother of two adult children, sued the Allingham Arms Hotel over the incident which happened about 12.38am at a social dancing event at the hotel in Bundoran on February 26th, 2017.
A regular dancer, Ms Duddy, then aged 59 and working as a hospital domestic, had driven to the hotel, accompanied by her cousin Karen Doherty, arriving about an hour earlier.
The High Court’s Mr Justice John Jordan said Ms Duddy came across as a “very honest, straightforward and credible” witness.
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The judge, who heard evidence patrons of the hotel would carry drinks across the dancefloor to a seating area, found the floor was wet and slippery due to spilled drink.
The occupier was aware spillages and a wet dance floor “created a risk of falls – a danger” and that these risks required a system to eliminate or at least reduce the occurrence of drinks being brought across the floor and to have staff regularly check the dance floor to ensure that spillages were cleaned up without delay, he said.
The hotel had said it had an inspection and cleaning system but the judge found there was “no credible evidence” that any proper system for managing the known risks was in operation on the night of the accident.
Ms Duddy, her friend and dancing partner John Likely, and her cousin Ms Doherty, were “credible and reliable” witnesses and he was satisfied from their evidence there was no proper system in operation that night.
Addressing issues raised by the defence about Ms Duddy wearing shoes with stiletto style heels, he accepted the shoes, which Ms Duddy described as dancing shoes, were normal for such dancing and was satisfied they did not cause or contribute to the slip and fall.
The defendant, he held, did not take reasonable care for the safety of Ms Duddy on the night and failed to comply with its duty under section 3 of the Occupiers Liability Act 1995.
Ms Duddy, who worked all her life from the age of 13, and was working as a domestic cleaner at Letterkenny General Hospital in 2017, said her injury led to her retiring on ill–health grounds about six months after her fall.
The court heard she had suffered an injury to her left wrist after falling on the same floor a year earlier but had not sued for reasons including the injury was a “clean break” that healed.
During the case, issues about Ms Duddy having sciatica and osteoporosis were raised. Her evidence was she gets injections twice yearly for osteoporosis, the sciatica is not significant and her left wrist is fine but her right wrist remains painful because it was not a clean break.
The judge was satisfied the right wrist injury and its consequences have been and remain a “significant disability” for Ms Duddy concerning her ability to carry out cleaning duties. She took early retirement as a result and had said she believed she would have been able to work until age 66 were it not for the right wrist injury.
On retirement, she got a payment of almost €28,000 and an ill–health annual pension of €3,839 and is also now in receipt of the State pension.
A medical report concluded ongoing chronic pain and discomfort would be likely for her and the judge accepted her age and education meant she did not have other employment opportunities after her cleaning job ended.
Having categorised her injury and consequences as “moderately severe”, he awarded €55,000 general damages, plus €178,486 for loss of earnings to age 66.
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