A County Wicklow woman who was knocked unconscious by an electric shock through her telephone on Christmas Day 1997 has been awarded €53,400 by the High Court.
Dorothy Keogh, then aged 30, was making a call at her home in Ballybeg, Redcross, when she received the shock while holding the receiver to her right ear. Her hip was touching a metal kitchen sink. She suffered burns to her fingertips, neck and hip and was admitted to the Burns Unit at Loughlinstown Hospital for two days.
Severe winds had damaged electricity infrastructure across Wicklow on Christmas Eve. Keogh’s partner, Michael Porter, gave evidence that their electricity supply failed at about 7pm and that he telephoned the ESB after seeing sparks from a nearby transformer and a cable moving against it.
The High Court found that a high-voltage cable and bushing had broken loose and intermittently contacted the transformer’s neutral conductor. This allowed a potential of about 6kV to reach earthed metal objects in Keogh’s home. When she was in contact with the sink and brought the telephone receiver close to her head, current passed through her body.
Mr Justice Michael Peart rejected the ESB’s defence that the incident was an inevitable accident or Act of God. He found the storm conditions severe but reasonably foreseeable. The installation should have been maintained so that such weather did not create the danger that arose.
The judge separately found that the report of sparking required urgent attention. Even allowing for heavily stretched emergency crews, leaving the danger unresolved from Christmas Eve until at least 26 December was not a reasonable response.
Keogh recovered from most of her injuries but continued to experience intermittent pain around her right cheek and ear, which the court linked to the electrical shock.
She was awarded €35,000 for past pain and suffering, €18,000 for future pain and suffering and €400 in travel expenses.