Woman awarded €20k for banging knee on table leg in restaurant

A €20,000 High Court damages award to a woman who banged her knee against the leg of a table while sitting down to dinner will have serious repercussions for hoteliers and restaurateurs.

Ms Justice Mary Faherty heard that hairdresser Annette O’Connor had been directed to a table in The Mullingar Park Hotel restaurant, had waited while the manager politely withdrew her chair, then sat down and injured her left knee as she pulled her chair in to the table.

Ms O’Connor, aged 48 of The View, Larchill, Santry, Dublin, had booked a Mother’s Day weekend at the hotel with five friends in March 2011.