Supermac's is being sued for damages by a 55-year-old carer who claims she injured her backside and lower back after a chair she was sitting on in one of its outlets broke.
Pamela Dudgeon sued Supermac's Ireland Limited in the Circuit Court for personal injuries she claims she suffered on January 6th 2017 after a chair she was sitting on at the Eyre Square premises Galway broke, causing her to fall to the ground.
In a pretrial ruling at the High Court on Monday Mr Justice Anthony Barr ruled Ms Dudgeon was not entitled to CCTV pictures of the alleged incident in advance of the hearing of her claim.
She had sought the images, which she claims are important to her claim. Supermac's opposed the application.
Extremely embarrassed
Ms Dudgeon (55) of Woodlands Grove, Coosan Road, Athlone, Co Westmeath claims she fell in a twisting type mechanism and was extremely embarrassed by the incident.
She claims she suffered injuries to her lower back, backside and abdominal muscles and required pain killers.
She also claims that due to ongoing pain, she finds driving for any length of time difficult and has had difficulty sleeping. Her ability to work and enjoy life have also been adversely affected she further claims.
Supermac's denies the claim or that it was negligent.
While it accepts that the chair she sat on broke and was defective, it denies that she fell to the ground and suffered the injuries as alleged. In a pretrial motion against Supermac's Ms Dudgeon's lawyers sought access to CCTV pictures of the accident.
The application, which was opposed by Supermac's had been rejected by Circuit Court Judge Raymond Groake.
Chair admission
That decision was appealed by Ms Dudgeon to the High Court.
In his ruling yesterday Mr Justice Barr said he was satisfied Supermac’s did not have to provide the CCTV images of what happened to Ms Dudgeon on the relevant time and date in the outlet to the plaintiff.
Upholding the lower court's ruling the Judge said he was satisfied she did not require the CCTV pictures in order to progress her claim.
This was because, the judge said, Supermac's had made a significant admission that the chair broke and was defective.
While the defendant had made this admission, the Judge accepted that the causation of the accident and quantum remain very much in dispute between the parties.
