A 37-year-old housewife had blatantly manufactured a £30,000 damages claim against a public house in which she had fallen off a bar stool, a judge said yesterday.
Judge Liam Devally said Ms Marie Fitzsimons, Seagrange Road, Baldoyle, Dublin, "had more drink taken than she should have had" when she fractured her shoulder in The Top House pub, Main Street, Howth, four years ago. The judge said he found Ms Fitzsimons's evidence and that of a group of her friends not only unconvincing but untrue.
The pub owner, Ms Sandra Macken, said she saw Ms Fitzsimons fall and then get up and continue drinking. No blame had been levelled at the pub until legal proceedings had been issued. Dismissing her claim, the judge awarded the pub its legal costs, an estimated £3,500.