12th May 2020
An elderly woman will hold onto her €102,000 award after Dunnes Stores lost its appeal over a finding its negligence lead to her falling and suffering serious hip injuries while shopping in its store in Cork’s Bishopstown shopping centre.
Rose Desmond was awarded the injury compensation by the High Court’s Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan over the fall on August 31st 2017.
Ms Desmond, then aged 83, slipped and fell after stepping on a spillage on the floor of one of the aisles.
She suffered a fractured right hip which required surgery involving replacing half of the hip joint with a prosthetic.
The trial judge was satisfied Ms Desmond had fallen on a contaminant on the floor and Dunnes had not established that their “safe cleaning system” at the time of the fall was sufficient.
Dunnes appealed the finding of negligence to the Court of Appeal but did not appeal the compensation figure.
In a judgment delivered electronically on 6th May,2020 the three-judge Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
