A mother and daughter who attempted to exchange a €675 pair of Christian Louboutin shoes in the company’s Brown Thomas boutique, have claimed they were defamed by a member of the Louboutin staff.
Sarah Anne McGinley (20) and her mother, aged 48, allege that when they presented the peep toe nude coloured shoes with red soles on December 8th, 2020, a member of staff examined them closely and then allegedly said: “They are a different shade to the ones we sell. No they do not look right and I am definitely not changing them.”
When McGinley senior had asked what was wrong with them and said “Are they mock?” staff member Ciara Rogan allegedly added: “They just do not look right. Yes, they do not look authentic, I am just not changing them.”
Ciara Rogan in evidence told Louboutin’s barrister Shane English, who appeared with Hayes Solicitors, she did not use the word “authentic” but had closely examined the shoes to ensure they had not been worn or damaged and, as such, unsellable again.
She said it was company policy to exchange products on presentation of an official receipt and invoice and added that the two ladies had neither on December 8.
Ms Rogan said she had contacted her manager at his home about the exchange and had been told: “No receipt. No return.”
Ms McGinley senior, on handing the shoes in their original packaging and box to Judge James O’Donohoe, told her counsel Tracey Ennis Faherty, who appeared with Elizabeth Ferris Solicitor, that the receipt was ”there in the box.”
She told Judge O’Donohoe there were three members of staff and seven or eight other people in the shop when Ms Rogan had raised the question of the shoes not being authentic. She said she was with her daughter Sarah Anne, who had since had a baby, and a then 11-year-old daughter who had recorded a video on Mrs McGinley’s phone.
Mrs Mc Ginley conceded in cross-examination by defence barrister Shane English that she had been the first person to raise the question as to whether Ms Rogan was suggesting the shoes were “mock”. The court heard matters had become heated after that.
Ms Rogan told Mr English, who appeared with Hayes Solicitors, that the country had been in Covid lock-down at the time and the boutique had been exercising a strict policy of allowing a maximum of four customers into its boutique at any one time. Everyone had to wear masks and there could not have been seven or eight other customers in the shop with them as this would not have been allowed.
Judge O’Donohoe was told that the shoes had been purchased in cash in the Christian Louboutin Department by Sarah Anne junior’s boyfriend, Kane Joyce, as an anniversary gift, and were found to be the wrong size. This had been her reason for wanting to exchange them.
Both mother and daughter, who live at St Theresa’s, Fortunestown, Saggart, Co Dublin, said they had often shopped in the Christian Louboutin boutique and Ms Mc Ginley senior said she had been shopping in Brown Thomas for about 30 years.
Judge O’Donohoe asked that phone recordings of the incident viewed in court be forwarded to him for further consideration and reserved his judgment on the case. Maximum compensation for defamation is €75,000 in each case. Brown Thomas is also a defendant in the case.
