Woman sues over slip on chip in Liffey Valley food court

A woman who claims she was injured when she slipped on a chip on the floor of a Dublin shopping centre food court has sued for damages in the High Court.

Lina Misiunaite (36) said her ankle went over and she fell forward injuring her knee in the incident in the Liffey Valley shopping centre.

She told the court she saw the “crushed” chip on the floor when she sat on a chair after the fall on November 4th, 2014.

Ms Misiunaite, a mother-of-four of Coldcut Park, Liffey Valley, Palmerstown, has sued the owners and occupiers of the food court area - HSBC Alternative Investments Ltd and Grosvenor Limited and Hines Real Estate Ireland Limited of Hogan Place, Dublin. She has also sued the food court’s cleaning company Noonan Services Group Ltd, Swords Business Park, Swords, Co Dublin.

She claims a chip was allowed to remain on the floor of the food court and alleges failure to warn her of the danger posed by it.

After the fall, Ms Misiunaite said looking after her young children and household tasks such as hoovering and lifting shopping bags had become difficult.

The defendants deny the claims and deny liability and Noonan Services Group also pleads it had a proper cleaning system in place at the food court.

Niall Fitzgibbon SC, for Ms Misiunaite, said the accident occurred at a confluence of food outlets where there are about nine restaurants on the second floor of the centre in an area seating about 600 people.

In evidence, Ms Misiunaite said she was on her way to buy food for her children when the accident occurred.

Wheelchair

She said she was shocked afterwards and was taken to an ambulance in a wheelchair. Her ankle injury cleared up within eight weeks but she was on anti-inflammatories for three months for her knee, she said.

Under cross examination by Declan Buckley SC, for the cleaning company, Ms Misiunaite agreed she settled a claim against Lidl supermarkets for €10,000 after she sued in relation to a slip and fall in February 2013. She agreed she had hurt the same knee in that accident.

When Mr Buckley put to her she was also in the past involved in a road traffic accident, she replied: “I am unlucky.”

She denied her shoes had anything to do with her fall and said she was wearing practical short boots at the time.

“It had nothing to do with my heels,” she said.

An engineer, David Browne, said he did a slip test on the tiled floor of the food court. Under dry conditions, he found a low risk of slipping and found, when the floor was wet or had a chip on it, there was a high risk of slipping.

The case continues.