A plaintiff, named as Mr Jason McCarthy, with an address at Ballybeg, Littleton, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, has successfully sued Waterford City Council, having alleged negligence; a breach of Duty of Care and a breach of the Occupiers Liability Act 1995.
Mr McCarthy, who acknowledged in court that he had previously recovered compensation of €17,555 from a road traffic accident in 2003; a further €12,000 for a road accident in 2009 and €15,000 arising from an assault when he was a young boy, [in total €44,550], was awarded €30,000 together with his legal costs, latter calculated on the lower Circuit Court scale.
Mr Justice Tony O’Connor stated he was satisfied that Mr McCarthy did trip and fall, as he had claimed, over a protruding lip on the pavement outside his father-in-law’s home at Gracedieu Road, Waterford City, on February 1st, some 7 years ago in 2015; adding that the injuries did not impinge significantly on his current day-to-day interests.
Waterford City Council authority had asked the court to determine if the fall happened as was alleged by Mr McCarthy; if it occurred where alleged, or if such a fall had caused such injuries currently being claimed by the plaintiff.
Mr Justice O’Connor said the council did accept during the hearing that the pavement lip was caused as a direct result of poor compaction at its sub base, and that if an inspection had been undertaken previously, same lip would have been noted and necessary measures taken to repair it.
Mr O’Connor had attended hospital the following morning after the fall and a medical report stated he had fractured his wrist, which required fixation with a grafting procedure.
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