A High Court judge has awarded a pensioner €40,000 Dublin Airport accident compensation after assigning her one-third liability towards her injuries.
Mr Justice Michael Hanna heard that Elizabeth Lavin from Kilcullen in County Kildare had been taking the escalator to the upper level of Dublin Airport´s Terminal 2 on November 2nd 2011 when the escalator made a sudden judder.
Due to what the judge later described as “an unfortunate neophyte in the ways of escalators,” Sixty-nine year old Elizabeth lost her balance and fell forwards over her hand luggage – landing on the metal stairs of the escalator on her face.
Instead of boarding a flight to Manchester as Elizabeth had intended, she was taken to Dublin´s Beaumont Hospital, where she was treated for a head injury and minor lacerations. Elizabeth still has facial scars as a result of her accident, including one on her bottom lip.
Due to pains in her head, arm, hip and knee, Elizabeth was unable to perform everyday household tasks. She tried to manage the pain by taking painkillers, but eventually had to be referred to an orthopaedic surgeon.
Elizabeth made a Dublin Airport accident injury claim to the Injuries Board, but Dublin Airport Authority PLC denied liability for her injuries. The Injuries Board issued Elizabeth with an authorisation to pursue the claim through the court system, and the case was heard this past week.
At the hearing, Judge Hanna heard allegations that Dublin Airport had failed in its duty of care to ensure the safety of passengers. It was claimed that the airport authority had been negligent when designing the airport so that the escalator on which Elizabeth fell was the only apparent way in which passengers with luggage could access the upper level of Terminal 2.
In its defence of the Dublin Airport accident claim, the airport authority argued that Elizabeth was the architect of her own misfortune. It produced CCTV footage which showed Elizabeth failing to hold onto the handrail of the escalator and placing her hand luggage in front of her, instead of behind her. The authority also said that a lift was available to passengers with luggage, but admitted that signs directing passengers to the lift were not erected until 2013 – two years after Elizabeth´s accident.
Judge Hanna ruled in Elizabeth´s favour – saying that she could not be held responsible for the actions of the escalator, for failing to hold onto the handrail of the escalator or placing her hand luggage in front of her. However, according to the judge, Elizabeth could have asked an airport assistant if a lift was available if she had been apprehensive about using the escalator.
The judge reduced the settlement of compensation Elizabeth´s Dublin Airport accident claim from €60,000 to €40,000, saying that she would have to take one-third liability towards her injuries. He also gave Dublin Airport Authority PLC permission to appeal the decision provided that they paid €25,000 of the settlement immediately.