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Woman (80) awarded €60,000 after social life impacted by trip on footpath
An 80-year-old woman has been awarded just short of €60,000 damages by a judge who said her social life had been greatly impacted by injuries she suffered when she tripped and fell on a hazardous footpath.
Judge Terence O'Sullivan said Anita Bryan, a keen golfer, of Somerton, Rochestown Avenue,
Dún Laoghaire
, had suffered bad injuries to her left wrist and right knee, causing her to abandon golf at her club, Woodenbridge in Arklow, Co Wicklow.
'I haven't played golf for five years because I am unable to walk for the four hours plus that it would take to complete a round,' Ms Bryan told the
Circuit Civil Court
on Tuesday.
Barrister Damian Sheridan, who appeared with Murphy McElligott Solicitors for Ms Bryan, told the court she had tripped on the raised edge of a pavement slab outside Cavistons Food Emporium on the Glasthule Road, Sandycove,
Co Dublin
, on the day before Christmas Eve, 2019.
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Ms Bryan said she had been walking arm-in-arm with her husband when her shoe caught on the slab, catapulting her forward. She had fallen and broken her left wrist and suffered a displaced fracture of the right patella of her right knee.
'The pain was dreadful and my wrist and leg were put in casts at the hospital. I was in a wheelchair for six weeks,' she told the judge.
Ms Bryan said she had received eight cortisone injections and was awaiting more for her knee injury. 'I cannot kneel properly any more and one of my favourite hobbies, apart from golf, was gardening,' she said.
She sued
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
and Cavistons Food Emporium, which the local authority let out of the proceeding without blame. The judge told barrister Kevin Callan, counsel for Northstone Construction, Blackrock, Co Dublin, that his client was not liable for the incident.
Forensic engineer Alan Conlan said he had examined the footpath shortly after the incident and found one of the slabs loose and rocking. The edge of the slab was raised above the level of other pavement slabs that had later been repaired. 'The loose slab was a potential trip hazard,' he said.
Awarding Ms Bryan €59,250, barely short of the €60,000 maximum jurisdiction of the court, against the local authority, Judge O'Sullivan said she had suffered bad injuries and had not overstated her claim in any way.
'I feel that on the balance of probability that works to the footpath had to have been carried out by the local authority and nobody else,' the judge said. 'Ms Bryan was a truthful witness and her life has been severely impacted by the accident. There is no question of contributory negligence.'
