The High Court has dismissed a man’s negligence claim against the Salvation Army (Republic of Ireland) over an assault by another resident at its York House hostel in Dublin. The court found that the organisation had not failed in its duty of care and that the assault was not foreseeable. It did not assess damages because the case failed on liability.
The incident happened on 21 August 2010. The plaintiff’s case was that another resident poured boiling water over him, causing significant injuries. The Salvation Army accepted that the assault took place on its premises and that he was injured, but disputed that staff had been warned of threats beforehand.
The plaintiff said he had told staff members Alana McCormack and Marjorie Parrott that the other resident had threatened him after he complained about noise. He argued that the organisation should have acted to prevent the assault, including by removing the resident. The Salvation Army’s witnesses denied that he had reported threats. They described procedures for investigating complaints and managing incidents, and said exclusion was a last resort.
Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon accepted the defence evidence that the plaintiff had not reported threats before the assault. She noted that he had not mentioned them in either of two statements to gardaí, and accepted staff testimony that they first learned of his allegation on the first day of the trial. The judge also accepted evidence that the plaintiff had used earlier claims of threats in a housing application to seek priority, and that the other resident’s prior incidents did not amount to a pattern of behaviour.
The court found that the Salvation Army took reasonable care and had a monitored system for responding to incidents. It concluded that the assault was not foreseeable and that there had been no failure to act on a warning. The judgment dismissed the plaintiff’s case at the liability stage; the court made no assessment of damages.