The High Court awarded Mary O’Regan net damages of €52,500 after finding that she was injured when a horse bolted from its stable at her neighbours’ property in Reacasla, Co Kerry. The court attributed 70% of the fault to the horse’s owners, Doug and Anita McGuinness, and 30% to Ms O’Regan.
In a judgment delivered on 25 October 2019, Mr Justice Bernard Barton found that the cob knocked Ms O’Regan to the ground when she opened its stable door on 20 March 2014. He accepted her evidence about the accident and found that she was unable to get up, was attended by an ambulance crew and taken to hospital.
The judge said the most likely explanation was that the horse had insufficient exercise and wanted to get out of its stable. He found that its owners, who were experienced with horses, could reasonably have foreseen that inadequate exercise could lead to the horse trying to escape and injuring someone. The court therefore found them negligent at common law.
The judgment rejected the defendants’ allegation that Ms O’Regan was trespassing. It found she was part of an informal arrangement under which her ponies were kept at the property and she helped care for the defendants’ horses. The court also found that the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995 did not apply because the static condition of the property was not the accident’s proximate cause.
However, the judge found Ms O’Regan contributorily negligent. Given her considerable knowledge and experience with horses, it was reasonably foreseeable that the cob might try to leave the stable when she opened the door and injure her. The court apportioned fault 30% to her and 70% to the defendants.
The court found that the accident caused significant soft-tissue injuries, principally to Ms O’Regan’s neck and lower back, aggravating pre-existing degenerative changes. It distinguished those injuries from other health problems and degeneration for which the defendants were not responsible. The judgment assessed pain and suffering at €50,000 to date and €25,000 for the future, totalling €75,000. After the contributory-negligence deduction, the net award was €52,500. No special damages were awarded.