Judge Awards Compensation for Dislocating a Thumb in a Slip and Fall Accident

by | Feb 3, 2016

A judge at the High Court has awarded a County Offaly woman €90,000 compensation for dislocating a thumb in a slip and fall accident.

On 28th May 2011, forty-four year old Sharon Kelly attended a birthday party at the Arc Café Bar in Dublin. Late into the evening, Sharon left her group of friends to visit the ladies toilet. However, as she walked across the parquet flooring in the bar´s lobby area on her way to the bathrooms, she slipped on some liquid on the floor and dislocated her thumb as she fell.

As well as several months of pain and suffering from her injury, Sharon now has a reduced pinch grip and has lost some of the sensation in the tip of her thumb. She claimed compensation for dislocating a thumb in a slip and fall accident from the owners of the Arc Café Bar, but consent to conduct an assessment of her injury was denied, and the Injuries Board issued Sharon with an authorisation to pursue her claim in court.

At the High Court, Mr Justice Anthony Barr saw CCTV footage of Sharon´s accident and heard testimony from two witnesses that the toilets had been in poor condition that evening and complaints had been made to bar staff. Judge Barr dismissed arguments from the bar owners that Sharon´s accident was attributable to five hours of drinking and wearing four-inch heels.

The judge said that he was satisfied there was liquid on the parquet flooring where Sharon had slipped and fallen caused by a failure by the bar to monitor the floor surfaces. Awarding Sharon €90,000 compensation for dislocating a thumb in a slip and fall accident, Judge Barr said: “People cannot be expected to look at the floor when walking across a bar. [Sharon] was entitled to expect that the floor was dry and it was safe for her to walk across it.”

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