The High Court dismissed a tenant’s personal injury claim against his landlords, finding he had not proved that negligence at their Dublin premises caused his serious ankle injury.
The plaintiff said he tripped over furniture and debris left in a corridor while an upstairs flat was being renovated. He claimed the obstruction caused him to fall as he ran towards the building’s front door after hearing it bang. The landlords denied that the corridor was cluttered, saying it contained only a small round table in an alcove. They also pleaded that the plaintiff had failed to take care for his own safety and was drunk.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Charleton on 31 March 2009, records that the plaintiff suffered a complex fracture to his left ankle, requiring surgery. The issue before the court was whether his evidence established, on the balance of probabilities, that the landlords’ negligence caused the injury.
The judge found the plaintiff’s account “barely credible” and said he was the only witness to the alleged accident. The judge also considered evidence from a pharmacist who worked in the same building. She said she entered the flats after hearing loud crashing noises, found no furniture in the corridor and saw the plaintiff in his flat without visible signs of injury. She said he later came to the pharmacy with a bloodied leg and asked for an ambulance.
One landlord testified that he visited that evening and found an upstairs flat smashed, while the corridor was not cluttered. The judge said there was no evidence anyone other than the plaintiff had been in the flats at the time, and considered it more probable that the damage had occurred that day.
The court did not determine precisely how the plaintiff sustained his injury. It held that his account and the supporting evidence did not establish the claim to the required standard. The judge dismissed the action; the judgment records no damages award.