Cleaner has damages award reduced

A cleaner who hurt her back after falling in a “smelly and cluttered” room at a Salvation Army centre, despite having been told not to enter it, has seen a damages award reduced by two thirds in the Circuit Civil Court.

Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said Elizabeth Power should not have entered the room of a resident at the Granby Centre, Granby Row, Dublin and he reduced an award of €30,000 to €10,000 on the basis of contributory negligence.

Ms Power, aged 61, of Glenhill Grove, Finglas East, Dublin, told the court that, in August 2013 she had told a superior that the room was cluttered with bags and had been told not to clean it.

She said she went back to the room two days later and saw it was still cluttered. She claimed she felt an “awful smell” coming from it and decided to go in and empty the bin.

She told her counsel, John Nolan, that she tripped on the handle of a bag lying on the floor and fell forward. She had then been assisted by a supervisor who had heard her scream.

Ms Power said that she felt pain in her back and later attended her GP, who prescribed anti-inflammatory medication. The court heard she suffered soft-tissue injuries in her back and right side.

She said she had needed to take several weeks off work and has ongoing pain. She sued The Salvation Army (Republic of Ireland) for negligence and breach of duty.

The defendant denied liability and claimed that Ms Power was well aware that it was the centre policy for cleaners not to enter a cluttered room.

Judge Groarke awarded her legal costs on the District Court scale.