A WEDDING guest whose nose was fractured when an automatic door allegedly struck her face has settled a damages claim. Martina Fivey (41) of Mahonstown, Gaybrook, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, said yesterday in the Circuit Civil Court in Dublin that on February 23rd, 2008, she was attending her sister’s wedding reception in the Mullingar Park Hotel.
Barrister Anthony Lowry told the court that Ms Fivey had headed towards the smoking area and had stood in the open automatic doorway as she waited for her husband. As she did so one of the doors closed and struck her on the nose.
She told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that her face had turned black and blue for a couple of weeks and she had to cover up the marks with make-up. She had noticed immediately after the incident that her nose had been bent to the right side. X-rays revealed her nose had been fractured and she needed to have it manipulated under general anaesthetic to straighten it.
Ms Fivey, who accepted an undisclosed settlement figure, had sued the hotel and the company that installed the doors, Boon Edam Ireland Ltd. Both had denied negligence.