A pensioner from Dublin, who fell and broke her shoulder in three places when a shopping trolley ran away from her on a moving escalator, has been awarded 30,000 Euros after her shopping centre injury compensation claim was resolved at the Circuit Civil Court.
Rosaleen Hill (79) from Terenure in Dublin had been shopping at the Dunnes Stores in the Ashleaf Shopping Centre in March 2009 when her accident occurred. After finishing her shopping, Rosaleen was returning to the underground car park on a descending travelator when her shopping trolley started to roll away from her. As she tried to keep hold of the trolley, Rosaleen fell and broke her shoulder and was subsequently dragged along the travelator surface – severely lacerating her knee.
Rosaleen made a claim for shopping centre injury compensation against Dunnes Stores and also Gary Smith, trading as The Ashleaf Shopping Centre, and Kessow Limited – the company responsible for the management of the shopping centre. However, Dunnes Stores denied their liability, claiming that the shopping trolley which was responsible for Rosaleen´s injuries was not one of theirs.
At the Circuit Civil Court, Judge Jacqueline Linnane heard testimony from a forensic engineer that the shopping trolley Rosaleen had selected from the trolley parking area had smooth wheels, rather than the corrugated rubber wheels that locked into the grooves on the travelator, and this is what caused the trolley to roll away from her on the descending travelator.
The manufacturer of the shopping trolley also gave evidence that, although his company made the type of shopping trolley that was responsible for Rosaleen´s injury, it was not the type that his company supplied to Dunnes Stores and it was more than likely that the rogue shopping trolley had been left in the trolley parking area by shopfitters who had been working at the shopping centre on the day of Rosaleen´s accident.
Judge Jacqueline Linnane accepted this explanation and dismissed Dunnes Stores from the claim. However she found Gary Smith and Kessow Limited jointly liable for Rosaleen´s injuries and ordered that they settle her shopping centre injury compensation claim for 30,000 plus costs.