Council to pay out €10k over woman's 'tree stump' fall
Ennis Circuit Court.
A failure by a council to make a footpath safe around a tree-stump in a town centre has cost it €10,000 in a successful personal injury claim.
This follows Judge Brian O’Callaghan at Ennis Circuit Court ordering Clare Co Council to pay €10,000 in personal injury damages to Marie Walsh after she tripped and fell to the left of the tree stump on December 2, 2018, while out Christmas shopping with her mother in Ennis.
Judge O’Callaghan said that Ms Walsh “fell and tripped putting her foot to the left of the stump” in “a most unfortunate fall that had medical consequences”.
Judge O’Callaghan said that the court was told that “the surface around the stump was put in badly and had deteriorated to such an extent”.
He said that the breach of duty in care by the council “is highlighted or exaggerated by the presence of the tree stump”.
Judge O’Callaghan ruled that the council is responsible for negligence in the case and the appropriate award is €15,000. However, he said that Ms Walsh was one third responsible for her fall and reduced the award to €10,000.
Judge O’Callaghan said: "This lady could have been looking out more than she was to a certain extent."
The judge said that Ms Walsh’s neck issue, which she had suffered from prior to the incident, was aggravated by the fall.
The court heard that someone in an act of wanton vandalism had cut down a good tree on a footpath in the Lower Market Street area of Ennis leaving the tree stump.
In evidence, Ms Walsh said that the area of the footpath where she was tripped was like a hole in the ground and was uneven.
She said that she suffered bruising to her hip, shoulder and elbow elbow areas and that it had cleared up after a couple of weeks.
With an address at Tubber, Co Clare and a worker at a company in ‘Quality’ at the Gort Rd Business Park in Ennis, Ms Walsh said that in the weeks after the accident her neck was “getting locked and I was getting a numbness in two of my fingers”.
She said: “I knew there was something wrong with my arm and the physio wasn’t helping.”
Ms Walsh said that she went for an MRI scan in April 2019 and is hopeful that her injury won’t be a long term one but said that anytime after she cuts a lawn or a hedge, it is painful.
Counsel for Clare County Council, Pat Quinn BL, argued that the council was not liable for any injury as it did not perform any positive acts of a negligent character that created a danger for Ms Walsh.
Mr Quinn said that the council didn’t cut down the tree and that Ms Walsh “was the author of her own misfortune”.
As part of his case, Mr Quinn proposed handing in a June 11 High Court personal injury judgment by Mr Justice Michael Twomey.
However, in response, Judge O’Callaghan said: “With the greatest of respect, I have read that decision four times and I am never going to read it again."
“It is the most biased judgement made by a colleague of mine in the High Court that I have read…I am disregarding Mr Justice Twomey’s decision. I would ask you to reconsider submitting Mr Twomey’s decision.”
Judge O’Callaghan awarded costs to Ms Walsh and Mr Quinn asked for a stay on the judgment in the event of an appeal “as liability is an issue”.
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