A Limerick woman has been awarded €25,000 in damages in personal injury compensation following a fall on a damaged water meter cover outside her home in 2012.
The woman, Kirdwin Johnson (30) stated that she could not fully extend her thumb after the incident. She fractured her wrist in the incident which happened while she was cleaning on August 4, 2012.
Presiding Judge Gerald Keys was advised by Johnson that her foot became stuck as she “fell back on my arm”. He arm remained in a cast for the following five to six weeks.
Legal representative for Ms Johnson Jack Nicholas BL, asked her show the extent her injury by extending both thumbs. He (Mr Nicholas) also stated that: “The right thumb doesn’t extend as far back as the left thumb.”
It was noted in court that Ms Johnson had previously lodged a number of personal injury claims in the Circuit Court.
When asked by the legal team defending Limerick City County if she had noticed the stopcock on the footpath prior to the incident, she answered: “I have seen it but I never paid attention to it before.”
The orthopaedic consultant who examined Ms Johnson after the initial incident did not “make an issue” of the injured thumb in his report after the accident. He was not present in court. Ms Johnson claims that she was at a graduation ceremony for her son in 2015 when she first noticed a “weakness in her thumbs”.
Ms Johnson’s injuries were reviewed by Dr Jim Fehily twice, once in September 2016 and once in December 2017. Dr Fehily said that he was of the opinion, following the examination that her (Ms Johnson’s) thumb injury was “unlikely” to be due to the fall near her house in 2012.
There was no official record of any other complaints about damage to the stopcock/meter and Judge Keys noted that there were no dates included on the original photographs presented in court. He remarked that: “I am not saying that this lady is making this up, but I have to be satisfied.” Judge Keys went on to say that the damaged stopcock was “trap for anybody and anyone who walks by” and that “you can’t leave a situation like that unattended”.
Given the evidence and arguments Judge Keys said he had “no choice but to conclude that the plaintiff succeeds” but was “not satisfied” the thumb injury was related to the fall.
He awarded Ms Johnson €25,000 in personal injury compensation.