Keenan v Bergin

JurisdictionIreland
Judgment Date29 October 1971
Docket Number[1970. No. 2617 P.]
Date29 October 1971
CourtSupreme Court
(S.C.)
Keenan
and
Bergin

Apportionment - Defective equipment of third party left temporarily on employer's property - Employee injured by reason of defect when handling equipment -Existence of defect not known to employer - No inspection of equipment by employer - Patent defect - Whether employer liable in action for damages.

The plaintiff was a foreman who was employed by the second defendants. The first defendant drove his articulated vehicle, consisting of a motor cab and trailer, on to the property of the second defendants where he left the trailer to be unloaded. The trailer was supported at the rear by ordinary lorry wheels and in front by struts attached to jockey wheels which were designed to be retracted under the trailer when it was being drawn by the motor cab. The locking mechanism of the struts and jockey wheels was defective but the second defendants did not know this. After the trailer had been unloaded, it was manhandled in the usual manner so as to remove it from the unloading area and, as it passed over some uneven ground, its forward supports collapsed and that end of the trailer fell to the ground and caused severe injuries to the plaintiff who was helping to manhandle the trailer. The plaintiff claimed damages in the High Court for the negligence of the defendants. At the trial of the action the jury found that each defendant had been negligent, apportioned 80% of the fault to the first...

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2 cases
  • Iarnnód Éireann v Ireland
    • Ireland
    • Supreme Court
    • 16 July 1996
    ...the criterion was blameworthiness and not causation. Kelly v. Jameson (Unreported, Supreme Court, 1 March, 1972) and Keenan v. BerginIR [1971] I.R. 192 considered. Quaere: How should liability be apportioned between concurrent wrongdoers whose liability arose from breach of a strict common ......
  • Iarnnód Éireann v Ireland
    • Ireland
    • High Court
    • 28 April 1995
    ...COMMISSION ON CONTRIBUTION AMONG WRONGDOERS & CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE (TORONTO 1988) CIVIL LIABILITY ACT 1961 S21(2) KEEENAN V BERGIN 1971 IR 192 KELLY V JAMESON UNREP WALSH 1.3.72 O'SULLIVAN V DWYER 1971 IR 275 CIVIL LIABILITY (CONTRIBUTION) ACT 1978 S2(1) UK LAW REFORM (CONTRIBUTORY NEGL......

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