The High Court awarded Nuala Ryan €66,080 after finding that the design of a Clonmel laneway and its incomplete reinstatement created a dangerous accumulation of stones that caused her fall while cycling.
In a judgment delivered on 17 May 2019, Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon awarded €65,000 in general damages and €1,680 in special damages. The supplied judgment records those awards; it does not state any separate order on costs or other relief.
Ms Ryan said she fell on 4 January 2014 while cycling near St Bernadette’s Terrace. Her case was that her bicycle skidded on loose pebbles gathered around a sunken, dished section of tarmacadam near a gully. She said the lane had been partly resurfaced, with the work left unfinished.
Her engineer described loose gravel over the macadam and a depression around the gully where material washed down and accumulated. He considered the dishing a design issue and said the debris and tar across the lane presented a hazard. Tipperary County Council disputed responsibility, arguing that the lane was old, that it had not carried out the relevant repairs, and that the claim concerned a failure to maintain the lane. It also argued that Ms Ryan should have taken greater care for her own safety.
The court accepted the evidence of Ms Ryan, her husband and her engineer as credible. It noted that the husband’s evidence was not contradicted and that the defence engineer had not answered the points made by the plaintiff’s engineer. The judge found that the stones and debris were a nuisance and danger to the public and to Ms Ryan. The gully and the dishing effect contributed to the accident, and it was reasonably foreseeable that the slope and accumulation would create a trap.
The court concluded that the lane’s design and incomplete, negligent reinstatement caused the accident. The extract gives no finding on contributory negligence and does not detail any separate declaration or costs order. The damages award is the precise outcome stated in the supplied judgment.