The High Court awarded a shop manager €47,200 for a left knee injury after she slipped on water at her workplace in Ranelagh in August 2012. Her employer had conceded liability, and contributory negligence was not pleaded.
The plaintiff was pushing a trolley past a sink when her foot slipped. She held onto the trolley and did not fall or strike her leg against anything, but felt immediate pain and swelling in her knee. An arthroscopy in November 2012 found a tear in the medial meniscus and a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament. She received physiotherapy and returned to work after two weeks, initially still using crutches and experiencing pain.
The plaintiff told the court that her symptoms persisted, affecting long walks, standing, exercise and caring for her young child. After returning to Romania in December 2012, she said she took a secretary job because she did not think she could manage long days standing in a supermarket manager role. She tried short runs on four consecutive days in June 2014 but stopped because of severe pain.
The medical experts differed on the cause of her later symptoms. The defendant’s expert considered that she had recovered from the original injuries and that kneecap wear was unlikely to have been caused by the accident. He accepted, however, that the accident may have made that condition symptomatic. The plaintiff’s expert also considered that the accident could have made previously symptom-free wear painful. The judge accepted the plaintiff’s evidence that she had no left knee pain before the accident and concluded that her symptoms up to her second arthroscopy in April 2016 were attributable to the accident.
The second operation, carried out in Romania, brought considerable improvement. By the hearing in October 2016, the plaintiff said she had recovered and was able to manage the work of a coffee shop she and her husband had opened. The judge recorded that both experts considered the initial knee injuries consistent with the accident, while the court’s finding on the continued symptoms extended only to the period before the second operation.
The court awarded €45,000 in general damages and added €2,200 in agreed special damages, making a total award of €47,200.