The High Court has found Hotel Kilkenny Ltd liable after Pamela Kirby slipped on a tile with clear liquid outside a lift at the hotel in August 2018. Mr Justice Tony O’Connor awarded her €72,000 in general damages for pain and suffering to date and into the future.
Ms Kirby fell while walking from a lift across the hotel’s second-floor “sky lobby” during a wedding reception on 18 August 2018. The hotel disputed that she slipped on liquid. It argued that CCTV footage was inconsistent with her account and that she had lost her balance in high heels.
The judge found on the balance of probabilities that Ms Kirby slipped on a tile with clear liquid on it. He said the CCTV, recorded from a camera some distance from the fall, did not show what caused it and was open to differing interpretations. He accepted the evidence of Ms Kirby and her husband, Mr Kirby, who said he saw liquid on the floor, and of guest Ms Mullins, who described the tile as wet and slippery.
The court rejected the suggestion that Ms Kirby fell because she lost her balance in high heels. It also found no deliberate lack of precision in her personal injuries summons and declined to dismiss the claim on that basis. The judgment records that the hotel’s closing submission challenged the accuracy of the summons but did not seek dismissal under section 26 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004.
The hotel had procedures for cleaning floors and responding to spillages. However, the judge found insufficient evidence that those procedures had been followed in the area shortly before the fall. No staff member was called to establish whether or when the tiled area outside the lift had been cleaned or inspected. The judge found that the hotel had not shown it took the necessary care to keep the area safe, and that its breach of duty caused Ms Kirby’s fall and injuries. He found no contributory negligence.
Ms Kirby sustained injuries to her right foot and elbow. Her foot injury required fusion surgery in September 2019 and continues to limit her running. Her elbow does not fully straighten and can affect her nursing work and exercise. The judge assessed the foot injury at €56,000 and the elbow injury at about €40,000 before accounting for overlapping effects; the combined general damages award was €72,000. No agreement was reached and no evidence was led about special damages.