Toddler sues after falling from hotel balcony
Neil Shanahan, 3, from Farranshone, in the city, fell from the top floor — some 20m or 65ft — of the Strand Hotel, on O’Callaghan Strand, in July 2016.
The High Court civil proceedings have been issued against Limerick Strand Hotel Ltd and Strand Leisure Investments Ltd, both represented by Holmes O’Malley Sexton solicitors, in Limerick.
The boy, listed on court documents as the plaintiff, is being represented by Dermot G. O’Donovan law firm. Neither law firm commented on the case.
The proceedings were issued this August, with an entry of appearance made this month by the defendants, though no date yet has been set for a full hearing.
Gardaí at Henry St station, in Limerick, investigated the circumstances which led to the boy being able to access the rooftop balcony and interviewed hotel staff. CCTV footage was obtained.
Aged two-and-a-half at the time, Neil was in a critical condition and spent time in intensive care and in a full body cast.
He damaged two ribs and two vertebrae, and a bone in his pelvis. He also suffered lacerations in his liver, kidney, and spleen, as well as a fractured skull.
Neil, his mother, father Michael, and brothers Billy and Martin, then aged 1 and 5, respectively, had been attending a coffee morning in the Strand Hotel on Saturday, July 2, 2016, when he got into a lift that took him to the sixth floor.
Neil ran ahead of his parents in the lobby and when the lift doors closed, his mother got into the other elevator.
“I knew he had gotten into one lift, so I got into the other lift, and went down. He was going up at the same time,” she said.
A witness described seeing him dangling off large letters that spell out the hotel’s name.
