Hotel worker awarded €50,000 for lost finger

A hotel worker who lost part of her little finger when the door of a room she was cleaning suddenly slammed shut has been awarded €50,000 damages by the High Court.

Aneta Antoszczyk was removing a wooden door stopper which was keeping open the door of a room at the Rivercourt Hotel in Kilkenny on April 24th, 2011, when it slammed shut with great force, severing part of her left little finger. It was not possible to reattach that part of the finger.

The court also heard that she was seven months pregnant at the time of the accident.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith Ó Neill found Ms Antoszczyk sustained “a most unfortunate injury”, the defendant was negligent in the matter and she was entitled to €50,000 damages. Ms Antoszczyk (35), Priory Square, Dean Street, Kilkenny, had sued Gatehalf Ltd trading as Kilkenny Rivercourt Hotel alleging failure to provide her with a safe place or system of work and exposing her to a risk of injury.

It was further claimed her employer had failed to train her to safely remove the door stops. She also claimed, as she was pregnant, she should have been provided with a co-worker to deal with the removal of the door stoppers.

The hotel denied the claims saying she contributed in whole or in part to her injuries by placed her hand in a dangerous position while removing the stopper and failed to have regard to her previous experience of carrying out the same task.

He said he was satisfied from the evidence before the court Ms Antoszczyk was not responsible for her injuries and the defendant had been negligent.