Nurse awarded €60,000 after tripping over beer case in Tesco

A 32-year-old nurse, who suffers ongoing pain since she fractured her left knee after tripping over a case of beer in a Tesco store, has been awarded €60,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.

Bernadette Higgins lost €12,000 of the award on the basis she had contributed 20 per cent towards her own downfall.

Ms Higgins claimed that in January 2014 she had entered the Tesco Metro store in Terenure, Dublin, and had been making her way to the wine section through a queue of customers at the self-service check-out area when she fell over a six-pack of beer.

She told her barrister, Gerard Groarke, that after falling on the floor the customer who had left the case while waiting to enter the check-out area helped her up and apologised to her.

The court heard Ms Higgins was taken by ambulance to the emergency department of St James’s Hospital in Dublin where X-rays revealed a fracture to her left knee.

Undergone reconstruction surgery

Ms Higgins, of Horton Court, Terenure, told Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that she had undergone reconstruction surgery of her left knee just five months before the accident but had no difficulties.

Since her fall she had to give up her football and running activities. She had needed to undergo two surgeries and had a visible scar on her knee. The court heard she has ongoing pain and still needs to attend physiotherapy.

Tesco denied liability and claimed that the case of beer had been on the floor for only seconds before Ms Higgins fell. The customer had put it down while taking another item.

The store alleged the case of beer was a highly visible coloured item and Ms Higgins had not looked where she was going. It claimed there was nothing it could have done to prevent the incident.

Hazard to people

Judge Groarke said it was common case that shoppers would leave bags and baskets on the floor and abandon them for a period of time. He said that because of the layout of the store, people entering the premises could be met by people queuing to pay for their shopping.

“In these circumstances items left out on the floor can create a hazard to people entering the store,” the judge said.

He said the store should have provided a defined path for customers at the check-out, to prevent them leaving items “willy-nilly” on the shop floor to go and fetch other products.

Judge Groarke said Ms Higgins suffered an especially nasty fracture to her knee and was still symptomatic almost three years after the incident.

Initially awarding her the maximum €60,000 personal injury damages maximum that a Circuit Civil Court judge can award, Judge Groarke said he found her to be 20 per cent liable for contributory negligence, and reduced her award to €48,000.