Man gets €10k after chair breaks under him

A 64-year-old man has been awarded €10,000 in compensation for a back injury he suffered when a front leg broke off the chair he was sitting on.

Judge David Riordan made the award to Steven Davies of Glenryan Road, off Blarney Street, Cork, against Moffett & Sons Ltd, trading as Balmoral Furniture, of Seymore Hill industrial estate, Dunmurry, Belfast, at Cork Circuit Court.

Defence barrister Paddy O’Neill submitted the case should be dismissed because of what he described as exaggerated evidence, but the plaintiff’s barrister, Cian O’Mahony, argued there was no false or misleading evidence.

Judge Riordan said: “I am satisfied the matter is properly before the court and there has been an injury. The claim is for damages for negligence or breach of duty.

“The chair should have been able to sustain certain vectors of force. He was using his laptop, he turns and the chair goes from under him, he lands on his behind with the chair going out behind him. I am satisfied that the chair purchased by Mr Davies and his wife was a chair not fit for purpose. I find in favour of the plaintiff.”

The judge awarded him for soft tissue injuries to his back, noting he had fully recovered from surgery to his back on two occasions five and eight years before the fall.

Judge Riordan initially made the order against defendant, Harvey Norman Ltd, but then changed it to an order fully against the third party, Moffett & Sons, who had indemnified the retailer.