The High Court awarded Olive Loughrey €260,000 after finding that a pavement defect in Dun Laoghaire caused her to fall and injure both wrists in July 2002. Mr Justice Kevin Cross held that a 5mm to 6mm difference in height between paving slabs was a hidden tripping hazard and that the local authority was responsible for the defect.
Ms Loughrey fell on the footpath beside Dun Laoghaire Town Hall, near the corner of Marine Road and Crofton Road, after leaving the DART station. She continued to church and then to work, but worsening pain led her to St Michael’s Hospital, where X-rays showed fractures in both wrists. The judgment says she later developed significant hand and shoulder symptoms and was unable to return to work after July 2005.
The council contested liability, arguing that the case raised a matter of principle about a highway authority’s responsibility to pedestrians. The court considered evidence from engineers for both sides. The plaintiff’s engineers attributed the uneven slab to defective workmanship. The council’s engineers argued that the difference did not amount to a tripping hazard and referred to standards used in England.
The judge found, on the balance of probabilities, that the slab’s subsidence resulted from faulty construction, poor design or both. Under Irish law as described in the judgment, a highway authority was liable for misfeasance—positive negligent acts in maintaining or repairing a highway—but not for nonfeasance, or a failure to maintain it. The court concluded that this case involved misfeasance.
The court also found that the small difference in height was a danger to pedestrians. It said the defect would not have been apparent to Ms Loughrey and accepted that she fell without contributing fault. The judgment records that local authority employees were said to have witnessed the fall, but they were not called to give evidence.
On damages, the court accepted that Ms Loughrey suffered substantial ongoing disability, particularly from poor hand function, and assessed general damages at €75,000 for injuries to date and €50,000 for future pain and suffering. It awarded €85,000 for past loss of earnings and €50,000 for future loss of earnings. The judgment states that no other special damages were established. The total award was €260,000.