A publican owes a duty of care to drunken customers who are clearly incapable of taking care of themselves, a lawyer argued in the High Court in Belfast yesterday. Mr John Gillen QC was making legal submissions in the case of a man who was crippled after falling off a bar stool and breaking his neck.
Mr William Joy (37), from Princess Avenue, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, is claiming damages against Mr Michael Newell, the owner of the local Copper Room bar, where the accident occurred in 1989. Mr Joy, a former butcher, is now confined to a wheelchair.
The court has already heard that Mr Joy had drunk 13 vodkas and four pints of beer before entering the Copper Room. He was so drunk that he could not remember being in the bar, let alone falling from the stool.
Mr Newell has denied liability and on Wednesday his lawyer asked Mr Justice Campbell to dismiss the case. He claimed that Mr Joy was seeking to blame the landlord for the misfortune he brought on himself by becoming incapably drunk.
Replying yesterday, Mr Gillen said that a pub landlord had a duty of care to customers against dangers arising from their inability to take care of themselves due to intoxication. He said that with one exception every witness who had seen Mr Joy before he entered the Copper Room had formed the conclusion that he was drunk.
"The bar staff must also have concluded that he was drunk, and in this state he was served a vodka and orange", Mr Gillen said. "He was sitting on a high stool with no back for up to 30 minutes with his head down close to or on the bar and not speaking to anyone.
"Clearly, he was incapable of looking after himself, and the bar staff were aware of this. Other bar staff have told the court that they would not have allowed such a hazardous or dangerous situation to continue. They foresaw a risk of a man falling off the stool and injuring himself."
The hearing continues today.