A 60-YEAR-OLD housewife, who injured her back and left wrist when she slipped and fell on a potato wedge in a Dunnes store, has been awarded almost €23,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.
Anna Manning told the court that in November 2011, she had been walking towards the fish section of Dunnes Stores, The Mill Centre, Clondalkin, Dublin, when she slipped on something and fell forward on her hands and knees.
She told her barrister, Kieran Binchy, that people, including staff members, gathered around her to make sure she was ok, and someone picked up a squashed cooked potato wedge off the floor, saying “this is what you’ve slipped on.”
Manning, of St Patrick’s Park, Clondalkin, today said she went home that day but had needed to go to her GP the following day complaining of neck and back pain.
Circuit Court President Justice Raymond Groarke heard Manning had a history of neck and back pain which had been aggravated by the accident. She had also developed ongoing pain in her wrist.
The court heard her back pain had come back to the way it was before the accident, but her everyday life was disturbed because of the pain in her wrist. She sued Dunnes Stores Ltd for negligence.
The store had entered a full defence to Manning’s claim denying liability and had alleged she was guilty of contributory negligence.
Judge Groarke, hearing that potato wedges had been spilled that day close to where Manning fell, said that on the balance of probability, she had slipped on what would be a “brother or a sister” of the wedges which had been cleaned up earlier.
Awarding her €22,900 damages, he said Ms Manning was a very poor candidate for that kind of accident due to her medical history. He rejected Dunnes’ allegation of contributory negligence.
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