Dunnes Stores Worker awarded damages in trip and fall over checkout cable in Dunnes Stores

A Dunnes Stores worker who sued the firm after hurting her knee when she tripped over a cable at a checkout has been awarded €94,000 by the High Court.

On Friday, the 24th of February 2017, Mr Justice Bernard Barton ruled the presence of cables under the checkouts at Dunnes’ Newbridge branch was a hazard for any employee working at them.

Sinead Maloney, a Dunnes employee for 17 years, had previously told the court the issue of cables hanging down under the checkout counters had been raised at health and safety meetings before her accident in 2012.  After her accident, the cables had been tidied, the court was told.

Ms Maloney (35), of Castlebawn, Naas, Co Kildare, sued Dunnes Stores (Newbridge) Ltd as a result of the incident on May 16th, 2012.  She claimed there had been a failure to ensure cables were properly secured and alleged the cable she tripped over had been allowed become loose, constituting a trap.

Ms Maloney said her foot got caught in the wire as she left the till area to go on her break or to help a customer.  She said she then tripped and banged her knee against another part of the checkout.She went to her GP with pain in the knee and later had a surgical procedure on it.  She said she would not be looking at her feet when she was at the checkout as she would be serving customers and watching the cash.

Dunnes denied the claims and argued that Ms Maloney had been the author of her own misfortune, by failing to look at what she was doing at the time of the incident and to bring any loose cabling to its attention.  In his reserved judgment, the judge said any inattention on the part of Ms Maloney was not contributory negligence on her part.  He found she had not overemphasised her injuries and was a truthful witness.  He was satisfied the accident occurred as described by her and that she had suffered a soft tissue injury to the knee, superimposed on an earlier condition.  Ms Maloney was certified unfit to work until May 2015 and he would allow the loss of earnings in relation to that time period, he said.

He awarded total damages of €94,000. That comprised general damages of €35,000 to date and €15,000 into the future, special damages of some €2,000 and €42,000 for loss of earnings to cover the period of time Ms Maloney could not return to work.

He refused a stay on payment out of the award in the event of an appeal.