A woman who claimed she suffered severe distress and loss of dignity as a result of two workmen walking into the ladies' changing room of a Dublin gym where she was standing naked on a weighing scales has settled her High Court action for damages for an undisclosed sum.
Wendy Tyner (41), a registered general nurse and married woman, of Hazelmere, Porterstown, Co Meath, had sued the operators of Total Fitness, located at River Road, Castleknock, Dublin.
The defendants had denied Ms Tyner's claims that she had suffered the alleged severe personal injury, embarrassment, loss of dignity, loss, damage, inconvenience and expense.
Ms Tyner claimed the incident on April 4th, 2001, constituted a breach of the terms and conditions of her gym membership contract.
After the incident, Ms Tyner claimed she was extremely embarrassed, distressed and upset. It was pleaded she is acutely sensitive regarding her body and body image, having suffered from an eating disorder diagnosed in May 2000.
It was claimed she had been making a good recovery but that, when she was reviewed on May 14th, 2001, she was distressed and tearful about the gym incident.
It was contended that, as a consequence of her body image, Ms Tyner was sensitised to any remarks or inappropriate viewing of her body and that the gym incident had set back her recovery.
It was further claimed that Ms Tyner had had to undergo a considerable amount of psychotherapy and was also prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping tablets.