Man sees damages award cut in half

A 29-YEAR-OLD whose arm was broken by night club bouncers saw a €37,500 damages award for assault slashed in half by a judge yesterday.

Mr Justice John McMenamin said in the High Court that Dermot Ryan, a part-time bouncer, should have gone home when he was told he was not being admitted.

Awarding him €37,500 damages against Templeville Developments Ltd, which trades as Bar Code Nightclub, Clontarf, Dublin, and a security firm, the judge said Ryan was guilty of 50% contributory negligence.

Mr Ryan had told the court that when he arrived at the club on June 18, 2006, he had had four pints and been refused admission. He said the bouncers employed by joint defendant Joe Dowling, trading as JD Security, of Ashbourne, Co Meath, had jumped him, pinning him to the ground and forcing his right arm around his back and upwards to his neck.

Later he had been taken by ambulance from his home at in Baldoyle, Dublin, to Beaumont Hospital where X-rays revealed he had a broken right arm.

In December last year Judge Jacqueline Linnane in the Circuit Civil Court awarded Ryan €25,000, which both defendants had appealed to the High Court. Yesterday Judge Mc Menamin accepted the bouncers used excessive force but said Ryan should have gone home when refused entry. He held him 50-50 responsible.

Judge Mc Menamin said he assessed damages at €37,500 but reduced it to €18,750 due to the contributory negligence.