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.