The High Court held Sligo County Council liable after tenant Thomas Keegan slipped on wet tiles at the entrance to his Cranmore home, fracturing his left ankle. Mr Justice Barr awarded him €105,650, including €50,000 for past general damages, €55,000 for future general damages and €650 in agreed special damages.
The accident happened on 18 November 2013, after rain. Keegan said he slipped as he opened his front door. He had removed a wet mat from the porch that morning and, when he returned, found it had been taken from the side gate where he had left it to dry. The Council argued that his account of the fall was implausible and that he had not taken reasonable care after drinking five pints of beer.
The court accepted Keegan’s account. It declined to find that he had made a fraudulent claim or given false evidence about how the fall happened, noting that no evidence showed the accident occurred elsewhere or in another way. The judge also made no finding on whether Keegan had previously complained about the tiles. He said the complaints issue did not determine whether the surface was safe.
The engineers disagreed about whether the mosaic tiles were glazed. Both accepted that tests put them in a moderate slip-risk category when wet. The judge preferred the evidence of Keegan’s engineer, who considered the tiles probably glazed or semi-glazed and unsuitable for an exposed, south-west-facing porch. The judge also concluded that the tiles were inappropriate for that location even apart from the dispute over glazing.
The Council had retained control over alterations to the rented property. The court found it was an occupier under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995 and that the tiles breached its duty of care. It also found that their use rendered the house unfit for human habitation, breaching an implied covenant in the tenancy. The court rejected the Council’s contributory-negligence argument concerning Keegan’s removal of the mat.
Keegan underwent surgery to fix the fracture and later had two procedures to remove metalwork. The judge accepted that he continued to experience pain and had developed ankle osteoarthritis. Future injections were anticipated; ankle-fusion surgery was assessed as a 20–30% possibility, but the court found it was not likely on the balance of probabilities. Keegan had been unemployed before the accident and the judgment recorded no specific claim for past or future loss of earnings.