The High Court found that the cleaning and maintenance system at Barcode nightclub failed on the night a woman fell on the restaurant floor and cut her right hand. The court held the defendants liable for breaching their duty of care and awarded her €56,000 for pain, suffering and embarrassment, covering the past and future.
The fall occurred after 22.30 on 26 December 2007, at the Westwood Club in Fairview, Dublin. The plaintiff was returning from the restrooms while carrying a glass. She fell forward, and the glass broke on the tiled floor, cutting her dominant right middle finger and causing minor cuts to her thumb and ring finger. She received first aid at the club, then went by ambulance to hospital.
The judge found that she fell rather than being pushed, and that neither intoxication nor her footwear caused or contributed to the fall. The plaintiff and a witness described parts of the restaurant floor as wet. The witness said she had earlier slipped nearby and had seen drinks spilled, with no attempt to clean them. The court accepted that the floor was wet where the plaintiff fell.
The defendants had installed slip-resistant tiles and treated them to reduce slipping. They also described a cleaning system involving cleaners, security staff, equipment and hazard signs. The judge found that this system, if operating, would have discharged the defendants’ duty of care. But no cleaner or floor staff member testified about how it worked that night, and the two security staff assigned to the area were not called as witnesses. The manager inspected the area after the fall and found it clean and dry, but could not say who had cleaned it.
On the balance of probabilities, the judge found that the system had not operated effectively that night. The court concluded that a build-up of matter or deposits had blocked the textured floor’s surface, reducing its slip resistance. The judge said the plaintiff’s turn to her left may have combined with the impaired surface to cause the fall, but did not amount to contributory negligence.
Medical evidence described surgery to repair a tendon and nerve injury in the middle finger, a two-day hospital stay, a splint and physiotherapy. By 2012, the plaintiff had regained full movement and made an excellent recovery of sensation, though altered fingertip sensation was likely to be permanent. She continued to report cold sensitivity, numbness and pain if the fingertip struck a hard object.
The court awarded €36,000 for pain, suffering and embarrassment to date, and a further €20,000 for the future. The supplied judgment extract ends after setting out these awards and does not state any further orders.