Restaurant Accidents

€75k Hotel Accident Compensation Awarded to Young Boy for Skylight-Related Accident

Posted: March 6th, 2020

A high court childer injury compensation settlement of €75,000 has approved in favour of a 12-year old boy who, as a toddler, broke his arm when he fell through a skylight in a hotel grounds.

When he was just two years old, Rory Veighey McCabe , attending a wedding with his family sat the MOyvalley Hotel, Co Kildare when he fell through an skylight, which was embedded in the ground, and dropped ten feet to the floor. Rory was playing on a grassy area when the accident occurred. There were many skylights in the grassy area to provide light to a tunnel used by staff to access the hotel kitchens from outside of the hotel.

On the day that Rory was attending the wedding with his family he, and some of the other children in attendance, used the corridor to go outside and play when the speeches were taking place. It was when these speeches were being held that Rory has the accident where he dropped through the skylight and hit the ground 10 feet below him. on the tunnel floor. There was, allegedly,  no security in place to prevent anyone from falling through the skylight, making this a particularly dangerous hazard for children.

Rory tool the child injury compensation action through his mother Nicola Veighey, of Kilcock, Co Kildare against the proprietors of the hotel, Moyvalley Hotel and Leisure Company in relation to the accident on June 22,2010. John Kennedy SC, legal representative for the Veighey family, informed the court that liability was not being contested in the case.

Mr Kennedy informed the court that, even though Rory was not left unconscious as a result of the accident he suffer due to the cuts and broken arm that he sustained. In addition to this three of his baby teeth fell out in the accident.

As he was giving his approval for the hotel accident compensation settlement, Justice Kevin Cross said that the young boy was very lucky not to have sustained a brain injury as a result of the fall. Justice Cross said that he felt the settlement figure agreed was appropriate and gave his approval for it before wishing Rory well for the future.

Judge Halves Compensation for Restaurant Food Injury

Posted: August 7th, 2015

A District Court judge has halved the amount of compensation awarded to a man after she assigned him fifty percent contributory negligence for an injury he sustained whilst eating in a restaurant.

The accident occurred on  the 23rd of March 2013 when Shane McQuillan, aged thirty two from Swords in Dublin, was eating in the Gate Clock Bar in Dublin Airport. Whilst eating a sausage and bacon sandwich, Shane cracked one of his molars.

Shane sought legal counsel before proceeding to make a claim for compensation against the bar. In the claim, Shane alleges that his tooth was cracked when he bit into a tough rind of bacon. He claims that this was because the rind had been left out on display “for a number of hours”. However, the owners of the Gate Clock bar denied that they were liable for Shane’s injuries. As such, he was authorised by the Injuries Board to pursue his claim for compensation through the courts.

The claim for restaurant injury compensation was heard earlier this month at the Swords District Court by Judge Patricia McNamara. There, the judge was told that the steel tray from which Shane was served his sandwich was kept over a pan of hot water, and was protected by a glass display. Additionally, the manager claims that the food at the bar is changed every ninety minutes – though she had no written records to confirm this statement.

The legal team representing the bar argued that, had Shane any doubts concerning the freshness of his food, he should not have eaten it. By doing so, he had contributed to his injury.

Shane testified that, because of his injury, he still experiences bouts of pain and has some difficulty eating. Judge McNamara then awarded Shane a compensation settlement consisting of €6,500 in general damages, as well as another €2,500 in special damages.

Yet this figure was then halved to €4,500 when Shane was assigned a fifty percent contributory negligence for not being “careful of a crispy rasher rind”. Judge McNamara added that, had the manager provided adequate records, she would not have awarded Shane any compensation.