The High Court has awarded Shakur Ahmed €60,201.27 after finding two apartment management companies jointly and severally liable for injuries he suffered in a fall on black ice at Castlegrange Square, Clondalkin.
In a judgment delivered on 9 November 2021, Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon found that Ahmed fell on 21 November 2016 while leaving his apartment to go to work. The court accepted his evidence that black ice caused the fall and found, on the balance of probabilities, that gritting the communal area would have prevented it.
Ahmed, a bus driver, told the court he slipped shortly after leaving his first-floor apartment and fell down the stairs. He sustained a puncture wound and a displaced fracture of his left elbow, which required surgery. Medical evidence said he was unlikely to regain full extension of the elbow and might develop arthritis. At his 2021 examination, his surgeon did not expect further operations and said he should make a full recovery.
The judge also found that water dripping through a gap near a light fixture contributed to ice forming. The light was not working on the morning of the fall. The court said repairs to the light would not, by themselves, have been central to preventing the accident because black ice is clear and difficult to see. It found that missing stair nosings contributed to the accident and would have helped break Ahmed’s fall. The steps were above the minimum standards at the time of construction, although their dimensions were below the optimal standard described in evidence.
The defendants disputed responsibility for the conditions and challenged the claimed role of the light and nosings. Their engineer evidence included that the tiled surface had good grip when dry or wet, while ice would remove that grip. The judge found the management companies controlled the public pathway and that gritting would have a beneficial effect. She also found that the accident was reasonably foreseeable given the combined factors.
The court assessed the injury as moderately severe under the Book of Quantum. It awarded €56,500 in damages, plus €3,701.27 in agreed special damages, making a total award of €60,201.27.