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Woman loses €60k damages claim over broken finger and lost nail

The law student was suing a shop in Dublin after her hand got caught in its door.

A 25-YEAR-OLD LAW student, who claimed she broke her left little finger and lost her nail when a “heavy” store door slammed on her hand, has lost a €60,000 damages claim in the Circuit Civil Court.

Judge Jaqueline Linnane said she was satisfied the entrance door at Polonez, Cork Street, Dublin, had not been defective and Laurentia Racu had been the author of her own misfortune.

Judge Linnane said Racu claimed that in November 2013 she used the handle on the store door to push it open, walked in and turned around to guide the door closed with her left hand.

Her finger was caught in the closing edge of the door, which her nail left hanging. She had later been taken by ambulance to St James’s Hospital where x-rays revealed a fracture in her finger.

Racu, with an address at The Mill, Riversquare, Dublin, claimed the door had been heavy and swung back in a “speedy” manner. She had been working as a hotel receptionist at the time and had been off work for one week.

Inspection

The judge today said Racu had told in evidence she had been familiar with the store and had been concerned the door swung back. Racu said she had been afraid it would hit somebody, even though nobody had been behind her.

The judge said it was the defendant’s case that Racu had been hesitant when she entered the store and had been trying to remove earphones from her ears as she walked in.

The store denied the door had been altered when a joint engineers’ inspection took place last year and it claimed Racu had been inattentive and careless when her “unfortunate” accident happened.

Judge Linnane told Sarah Corcoran, for Mordern House Limited, which owns the store, the joint inspection had revealed no defect in the door.

The judge said it was very clear from the engineering evidence that the door had handles both on the outside and on the inside.

“If Ms Racu was so concerned about the door swinging back and hitting somebody, although there was no one behind her, she should have used the inside handle,” the judge said.

Judge Linnane dismissed Racu’s case and awarded legal costs against her.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Sep 14th 2017, 8:27 PM

    The last thing you should do is listen to ordinary people’s opinions on complex technical topics. Look at Brexit.

    Listen to what the technical experts are saying, and they are all to a man saying that Cork city needs to be extended to give it a critical mass which is important for many reasons.

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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Sep 14th 2017, 9:11 PM

    @Fred Jensen: at the cost of the county though. Even the financial rebate being proposed is only for 5 years before review and doesn’t factor in lost revenue to the county council from developments they have already partially paid for.

    There is also a concern the the financial model maybe unachievable in the short term for the city council

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Sep 14th 2017, 8:22 PM

    Majority of ordinary people in the county are dead set against the city council taking over. Increase in rates…no or little investment in these new areas…theyll become back waters.

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    Mute Conchuir
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    Sep 14th 2017, 10:32 PM

    @Tony Skillington: the extended City Council should have more money to spend as it wouldn’t have to subsidise the rest of the county council. The council of course might struggle

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    Mute Michael Collins
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    Sep 15th 2017, 2:57 AM

    @Tony Skillington: so who is responsible for that traffic jam they call Douglas??

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    Mute prop joe
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    Sep 15th 2017, 6:41 AM

    @Michael Collins: that’s in the county at present. So the county

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    Mute prop joe
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    Sep 15th 2017, 1:11 PM

    @Tony Skillington: are they? Must people living in Douglas probably aren’t even aware that they are in fact living in the county. The county would have a stronger case if they hadn’t been pushing people out to far flung places to live. Cork is relatively small yet they seem to think living in Mallow and commuting would be better than living near the city.

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    Mute mcgoo
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    Sep 14th 2017, 11:39 PM

    May as well extend it to Midleton, Mallow, Macroom and Bandon seeing as ye are on such a roll lads.

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    Mute Gary Heslin
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    Sep 14th 2017, 11:06 PM

    So is Limerick city now bigger than Cork City ??as they have extended their boundary, and encompassed a far greater population than Cork city..

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    Mute prop joe
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    Sep 15th 2017, 6:43 AM

    @Gary Heslin: limerick city doesn’t exist. It is now part of the county limerick. But the old boundary had a greater land area than Cork city has presently with half the population.

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    Mute Colm O'Sullivan
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    Sep 15th 2017, 5:21 PM

    @prop joe: Incorrect. Limerick City still exists. It may be a unity authority with the county but it still has a border, as such. Population including suburbs 95k.

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    Mute sportsmad
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    Sep 15th 2017, 7:03 AM

    Why has Cork City got its own council ?

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    Mute prop joe
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    Sep 15th 2017, 12:50 PM

    @sportsmad: like must urban areas it is governed locally. The counties we have presently where drawn up by the British 400 hundred years ago and don’t really make sense anymore. We should look at all county boundaries.

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    Mute Colm O'Sullivan
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    Sep 15th 2017, 5:22 PM

    @prop joe: I’d like to see West Limerick and North Kerry join as one county!

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    Mute Joe Smith
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    Sep 15th 2017, 8:57 PM

    @Colm O’Sullivan: I would like to see from west clare to the cork border, from north tipp to the cork border and east waterford to the cork border all come under the cork banner.

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    Mute Fifty Shades of Sé
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    Sep 15th 2017, 11:10 AM

    It has a bigger population than half of the counties in Ireland as it is, if the proposed expansion is approved, only 2 counties in the Republic will have a bigger population.

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