The High Court dismissed a woman’s negligence claim against the operator of Barcode nightclub, finding that the venue was adequately supervised and that the evidence did not establish the man involved should have been refused admission.
The plaintiff alleged that she was injured at the Clontarf Road nightclub in the early hours of 22 December 2008 because of failures in supervision and security, including the handling of patrons who were under the influence of alcohol. The court heard evidence in July 2015 and received written submissions in October before reserving judgment.
The plaintiff suffered a forehead laceration and an undisplaced fracture to her left elbow after falling from the shoulders of another patron, Andrew Kellett. Accounts of how she came to be on his shoulders differed. She and her sister said Kellett had repeatedly approached and touched her, and that he picked her up. Independent witness Ciara Forbes said she saw him touch the plaintiff and scoop her up; she said the plaintiff did not appear to welcome his attention. Kellett and his friend Patrick Treacy described the plaintiff as climbing onto Kellett’s back while they were joking.
The judge accepted Forbes as a reliable witness and said she was the best evidence of the incident. He also found reliable the evidence of security supervisor Veronica Phelan and general manager Christopher O’Reilly, who said the plaintiff had described herself as “messing” with Kellett after the fall. The CCTV footage was not definitive.
The court separately considered the plaintiff’s account of earlier unwanted attention at the bar. It noted that the account had not been raised with security or management at the time, or included in the initial claim documents. The judge said it would have been difficult for security staff to know an incident was occurring and expected that a serious incident would have been reported.
The plaintiff’s security consultant argued that additional staff and other procedures could have reduced the chance of the incident. The defendant’s witnesses described a system involving licensed security staff, CCTV monitoring and controls against overcrowding. The judge found the nightclub’s overall security system good and found there was no overcrowding on the night.
The judge said Kellett’s act of placing the plaintiff on his shoulders was brief and difficult to anticipate. Even a nearby security officer might not have been able to intervene in time. The evidence was insufficient to establish that Kellett should have been refused entry, and finding the defendant negligent in the circumstances would impose too high a standard of care. The court held Kellett responsible for the injury and dismissed the plaintiff’s claim.