Woman who dislocated her knee in nightclub awarded €17,500 in damages

Emma Fox, a make-up artist from Meath, has been awarded €17,500 in damages after she slipped and fell on a wet dance floor at Sin Bar & Nightclub in 2012.

Judge Alison Lindsay heard how Ms Fox’s knee had popped out after she hit the floor but had “spontaneously popped in again” within minutes.

Mr McQuade, the barrister who acted on behalf of Ms Fox, told the court how she was taken to St James’s Hospital after she slipped on the wet floor but had left after facing a five hour wait to be seen. She did however attend J.A McKeever’s clinic at Connolly Hospital the next day.

Emma Fox explained to the court how she has responded to the medication and the physiotherapy and has recovered well. She has noticed little change especially after walking up several flights of stairs or after carrying out heavy gym work.

Ms Fox claimed that the defendants were negligent for allowing drinks to be taken onto the dance floor and for not having adequate systems of inspections of the floor and mopping up and spills. Emma sued Ciaran Gray, the nightclub owner and the two companies which owned the premises where the incident occurred.

The court heard how in the future she would have an increased predisposition to dislocating her kneecap. A worst scenario of recurrent dislocations would require wiring of the kneecap and the accident had increased the risk of this possibility.

This claim became a matter of assessment of damages only as the Defendants, who were aware of the case, had not responded, said Judge Alison Lindsay. A judgement had been obtained against all of them earlier as they failed to enter an appearance.

Emma Fox was awarded €17,500 for damages and legal costs. Justice Lindsay said that she had recovered well but continued to have on-going “niggles” with her knee.

The above case illustrates how the Court will assess matters where the defendants have not entered an appearance. Here we see how the defendants had not entered an appearance and therefore judgement had been obtained against all of them. Therefore the issue before the court on the hearing date was that of assessment of damages only.