THE FAMILY of a Dundalk man who fell to his death from a fire escape at a Dundalk nightclub has successfully sued the owners of the building where the tragedy happened in 2005.
Eamon Mulvenna, a 20-year-old from Muirhevnamor, Dundalk, died after he fell from a designated smoking area on the third floor.
Mr Mulvenna’s mother, Rita, sued Bernard Conlon and Dr Seamus Cassidy, who owned the landmark Earl Street, Dundalk building at which Mr Mulvenna fell backwards from the fire escape early on October 22nd, 2005. Mr Conlon and Dr Cassidy defended the fatal injuries action at Dundalk’s High Court before Judge Elizabeth Dunne.
The Mulvennas were awarded €60,000 after Judge Dunne found the defendants 60 per cent liable for the death. She refused an application for a stay on the award being paid in the event of an appeal. Counsel for the Mulvenna family, Eoin Fitzsimons, said that, as owners, Mr Conlon and Dr Cassidy remained the occupiers, and Mr Conlon had an even bigger duty as he was the licensee.
The owners said a franchise agreement gave control of the building to the club managers, and the defendants were not liable.
Judge Dunne heard how Mr Mulvenna was in Whispers and went to the fire escape to smoke. This was the designated smoking area. Witness Ryan O’Neill from Monaghan described how Mr Mulvenna sat up on the railing, slipped backwards and fell to the ground.
Mr Fitzsimons said the other named defendant, Frankal Ltd, which ran the club at the time, no longer existed and was not before the court, but added Mr Conlon was “the real defendant in the case” because he was the licensee.
Judge Dunne said aspects of the case were peculiar, including a franchise agreement between Dr Cassidy and Mr Conlon and Frankal Ltd. She said the owners wanted to “wash their hands” by using the franchise agreement.
She believed Dr Cassidy and Mr Conlon were the legal occupiers at the time of the incident, and even if she was wrong about that, they were the occupiers of the fire escape, which was not covered in the franchise agreement.