Woman who broke ankle in fall after 10 pints settles €38k damages claim

A 52-year-old woman who fell in a pothole and broke her ankle after drinking 10 pints in her local soccer club has settled a €38,000 damages claim in the Circuit Civil Court.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in court.

Conor Bowman, for Pamela Duffy, said she had organised a 50th birthday party for her husband in Tel El Kebir United Football Club and was leaving the premises at 2am on October 2, 2011, when the incident happened.

Mr Bowman said Ms Duffy, of Shanganagh Woods, Shankill, Co Dublin, was taken to hospital and fitted with a below-knee plaster-of-paris backslab to her right leg. She also had a boot brace and crutches, which she used for six weeks.

Mr Bowman told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that the club had entered a full defence in the case and pleaded contributory negligence on the basis that Ms Duffy had stated in a replies to particulars document that she had consumed 10 pints of beer.

David Dodd, for the club, told the court Ms Duffy’s legal team had consented to the defence being amended to include a claim of alleged contributory negligence on the grounds of the number of pints consumed on the night.

He said the club claimed Ms Duffy was a member and that, under the law, her case would fall if it was found by the court she was a member of the club, as club members could not sue themselves.

When Judge Linnane said the question of Ms Duffy’s membership of the club would have to be determined as a preliminary issue, Mr Bowman said her husband was a member and had at some stage filled an undated application form for her to become a social member.

Mr Bowman said while her husband had been a member for years, Ms Duffy was not a member at the time of the incident.

Mr Dodd claimed that Ms Duffy’s husband was an “absolute stalwart” of the club and his wife, who was also a member, frequently used it for social family occasions such as the birthday party she had arranged for her husband.

After an adjournment to allow the parties to discuss the point of whether Ms Duffy was a member of the club, Mr Bowman said the case had been settled and could be struck out.