Pub customer loses €60k claim over fall in disabled toilet which knocked him unconscious

Complainant, who uses crutches to walk, claimed floor under hand dryer was wet, causing him to slip and fall

Complainant told court when he entered the area near a hand dryer his left crutch slipped on the tiled floor and he had fallen and had been knocked unconscious. Picture: iStock

A 67-year-old Dublin man, who has to use crutches to walk, has lost a €60,000 personal injuries claim against The Merrion Inn owners following a fall in the pub-restaurant’s toilet for the disabled.

Michael Ryan, of Trimleston Park, Booterstown, Co Dublin, told the Circuit Civil Court on Thursday that “following a very good meal and two pints of Heineken” he had gone to the WC while waiting for a taxi to arrive.

He said when he entered the area near a hand dryer his left crutch slipped on the tiled floor and he had fallen and had been knocked unconscious.

Mr Ryan told barrister Grainne Larkin, counsel for Cormak Limited, the owner of the pub, that he had no memory of why he had fallen but said “the floor under the hand dryer had to be wet".    

Judge Terence O’Sullivan heard Mr Ryan had struck his head against a wall and had fractured his collar bone. His trousers had been wet and paramedics had put them into a plastic bag before taking him to St Vincent’s Hospital.

Ms Larkin, who appeared with Helene Coffey of Crowley Millar Solicitors, told Mr Ryan the bar manager Paul Carroll would tell the court he had given him first aid following the accident and stayed with him for 40 minutes until the ambulance arrived.

He had checked the area where he had fallen and found the floor to be dry. Mr Ryan told the court he had no memory of the incident but added the floor under the hand dryer had to be wet.

Dismissing Mr Ryan’s case, Judge O’Sullivan said he had been quite badly injured but the very straightforward evidence of Mr Carroll had been that the floor had been dry where Mr Ryan had fallen and he had attended to him for 40 minutes.

On the basis of Mr Carroll’s evidence, the court could not come to a conclusion that the floor was wet and liability for whatever difficulty Mr Ryan had experienced could not be decided against the defendant.

Ms Larkin said she had been instructed by the solicitors for Cormak Limited and its insurers Allianz not to seek an order for legal costs against Mr Ryan.