Tipperary woman who slipped on wet hotel floor at wedding awarded €72k

BreakingNews.ie

7 days ago

A nurse who slipped on a wet floor at a wedding in a four-star hotel has been awarded €72,000 by a High Court judge.
The Tipperary woman who had been wearing stiletto shoes had told the court she was in so much pain after the fall when she exited a lift in Hotel Kilkenny, she thought she was going to die.
Advertisement
Hotel Kilkenny had contended the woman was wearing 5 inch stilettos and simply lost her balance when her left ankle buckled on the way to the wedding banquet. It denied the floor was wet and slippy.
Pamela Kirby (42) Glencarra Lawn, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, had sued Hotel Kilkenny Ltd trading as Hotel Kilkenny, College Road, Kilkenny city, as a result of the fall as she attended the wedding reception of a friend on August 18th, 2018.
Mr Justice Tony O'Connor said it was a 'hotly contested claim for damages' but the court was satisfied that on the balance of probabilities Ms Kirby slipped on a clear liquid which was on a tile upon which she placed her shoe while walking across from the lift at the hotel sky lobby.
The judge said there was no dispute that Ms Kirby was entitled to attend the wedding reception in high heels.
Advertisement
He said she was entitled to expect that the floor area which she had to cross did not have liquid or if there was liquid, that there were signs to indicate a wet floor.
The hotel side he said had not satisfied the court that it took the necessary care and for those reasons he ruled the hotel was in breach of its duty of care to the woman.
The judge said Ms Kirby had satisfied the court that her fall was not caused by a loss of balance due to the wearing of high heels. He noted she had worn them without difficulty to events for six years previously.
Mr Justice O'Connor who had viewed CCTV of the incident said other guests took various steps on exiting the hotel lift and the court was not persuaded that another guest would have noticed, alerted others or slipped on the tile in the advance of Ms Kirby coming along.
Advertisement
The judge also noted Ms Kirby's husband had given evidence that while he attended to his wife after the fall, he noticed the ground looked wet.
The judge said Mr Kirby's observations were particularly relevant and his integrity, the judge said was not in dispute. His reply that he did not mention liquid on the floor due to his primary concern for his wife, the judge said was understandable.
Mr Justice O'Connor said the credibility and reliability of Mr. Kirby in particular together with the candour of his wife satisfied the court on the balance of probabilities that she slipped on a clear liquid which was situated on a tile where she placed her shoe while walking across from the lift in the sky lobby.
In the fall, Ms Kirby dislocated her elbow and later needed a cast and also hurt her leg and the bones in her toes were broken and her leg was also put in a cast.
Advertisement
Ireland
Restaurant manager awarded €17k after being made r...
Read More
In evidence she told the court she was wearing her own wedding shoes from her 2012 wedding on the occasion.
She and her husband had attended the wedding and a drinks reception at the hotel where she had two glasses of wine with ice. The gong for the wedding banquet went at 5:30pm and they went upstairs to the second floor for the wedding meal.
She said the other couples got out of the lift first and she followed with her husband. She said she slipped and fell and landed on her right side.
'I was in so much pain, I thought I was going to die,' she told the judge.