Woman’s award of €80,000 reduced to €27,000 as she was found to be partially at fault.

A woman who took an injury claim against a floating restaurant for personal injuries that she suffered as a result of a slip and fall has had her compensation reduced. The woman was found to be two thirds responsible for the fall which resulted in her damages being reduced from €80,000 to €27,000. This is known as contributory negligence which means that she contributed to her fall.

The accident occurred as the woman moved between the upper and lower decks. The company who ran the floating restaurant denied liability and pleaded that the woman was negligent. The court heard that the company had run the vessel for 10 years and had carried around 90,000 passengers with no previous incidents.

The Judge said that the woman suffered a nasty personal injury however she had negotiated the stairs at least once before the accident. He was also satisfied that she was not intoxicated at the time of the slip and fall.

There was engineer’s evidence given that the ridging on the steps where the fall happened was to the highest standard however there was a missing right side hand rail which was a safety concern. The Judge found in favour of the woman however found her two thirds responsible for the fall and reduced her compensation.

In this type of situation, the woman would have had to make an initial application to the injuries board. The Injury Board would have assessed her injuries if the other party consented to this. The Injuries Board would have given her an authorisation to bring the court proceedings for her personal injury claim as a result of the accident.

Irwin Solicitors have many years experience bringing successful claims on behalf of clients. Please call us on 01-2849034 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information