Farrell v Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Judge | Mr Justice Max Barrett |
| Judgment Date | 15 December 2020 |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] IEHC 660 |
| Docket Number | Circuit Court Record: 2016/466 |
| Court | High Court |
| Date | 15 December 2020 |
[2020] IEHC 660
Max Barrett
Circuit Court Record: 2016/466
THE HIGH COURT
Personal injuries – Damages – Liability – Plaintiff seeking damages – Whether the defendants were liable
Facts: The plaintiff, Ms Farrell, a civil servant employed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on the evening of 22 October 2015, left the Backweston premises in Celbridge where she worked. When she stepped outside there was no light from the waist-high lights that led from the office premises to the nearby car park, nor were any of the standard streetlights lighted. The whole area was, she maintained, in pitch darkness. She proceeded towards her car and had made her way safely along circa. 119 yards of the circa. 120 yard-distance to the car. This was a route that she had taken on every day that she was at work for the previous few years. Just before she got to the car she trod on something and fell backwards, throwing out her hands to stop her fall but doing something to her left ankle as she fell. She noticed muck on her tights that she considered was consistent with her sense that she had slipped on leaves. She claimed that the defendants, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Apelona HSG Ltd, their servants or agents were guilty of negligence and breach of duty (including statutory duty).
Held by the High Court (Barrett J) that there was a breach by the first defendant of the duty arising for it (as employer) under s. 15 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and also negligence on the part of the defendants. Having regard to the Book of Quantum (2016), p. 66, the court considered that the evidence before it pointed to Ms Farrell having suffered a moderately severe fracture that had resolved but with ongoing pain and suffering. She appeared to have suffered a significant loss of amenity in terms of her dancing and, more particularly perhaps in terms of her long-term walking which had effectively ended, her left foot proving too painful after a period of walking to sustain any more walking. The court therefore considered that her injuries were at the higher end of moderately severe and merited an award in damages, consistent with the Book of Quantum, of €75,000.
Barrett J proposed to order that costs should follow the event and that costs should therefore be awarded in favour of Ms Farrell.
Damages awarded to plaintiff.
Ms Farrell is a civil servant employed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The first named defendant requires no introduction. The second named defendant is a limited liability company and was at all material times engaged as a facilities manager by the first-named defendant.
On the evening of 22 October 2015, Ms Farrell left the Backweston premises in Celbridge where she works. These are large premises and there were about 10 other employees in the premises at the time. When Ms Farrell stepped outside there was no light from the waist-high lights that lead from the said office premises to the nearby car park, nor were any of the standard streetlights lighted. The whole area was, she maintains, in pitch darkness. Ms Farrell proceeded towards her car and had made her way safely along circa. 119 yards of the circa. 120 yard-distance to the car. This was a route that she had taken on every day that she was at work for the previous few years. Just before she got to the car she trod on something – she thinks it was leaves – and fell backwards, throwing out her hands to stop her fall but doing something to her left ankle as she fell. She got up in pain, made it to her car and sat in the car for some time, crying and in shock. She made a mobile phone call to her then teenage daughters to tell them what had happened and that she would be late coming home. She also noticed muck on her tights that she considered was (and it is) consistent with Ms Farrell's sense that she had slipped on leaves. Falling and fallen leaves are a familiar autumn feature and the court does not accept the contention by the first named defendant that one or more leaves could not have blown to this part of the car park: leaves can be blown by the wind from pretty much anywhere to pretty much everywhere.
In any event, Ms Farrell managed to drive home and the next day took a day's annual leave (in truth she would seem to have been entitled to sick leave) to stay home and recuperate. It subsequently turned out that Ms Farrell had in fact fractured the lateral malleolus of her left ankle. It was initially treated by affixing a below knee plaster cast and issuing crutches to Ms Farrell. As a result of this treatment she was unable to drive or to attend work. The cast was removed on 11 November 2015 and Ms Farrell was then treated through being provided with a walking boot immobiliser splint and crutches. She had difficulty in getting about and in managing stairs. Moreover, even after the boot was removed she was unable to resume walking for pleasure until May 2016 and, though long habituated to doing long distance walks, she finds that this is no longer possible: after a few kilometres she finds that her ankle acts up and hurts her too much to continue. A keen dancer, she has not returned to her dancing as she is afraid that she will land wrongly on her ankle occasioning pain to herself. Historically, she had difficulty sleeping because of the pain from her ankle and she has received physiotherapy. Overall, therefore, she would seem to have suffered a significant and...
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