The Plaintiff was a Civil Servant employed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. On the 22nd of October 2015, the Plaintiff left the premises in Celbridge where she works. There was no light from the waist-high lights that lead from the office premises to the nearby car park, nor were any of the standard streetlights lighted. The whole area was in pitch darkness. The Plaintiff proceeded towards her car and just before she got to the car she trod on something which she believed to be leaves and fell backwards. She got up in pain, made it to her car and sat in the car for some time, crying and in shock.

It subsequently turned out that the Plaintiff had in fact fractured her left ankle. It was initially treated by affixing a below knee plaster cast and issuing crutches the Plaintiff.  As a result of this treatment she was unable to drive or to attend work.  The cast was removed in November 2015 and the Plaintiff was then treated through being provided with a walking boot immobiliser splint and crutches. After the boot was removed, the Plaintiff was unable to resume walking for pleasure until May 2016 and is only capable of walking short distances. Overall, the Plaintiff appeared to have suffered a significant and continuing loss of amenity of life.

The Plaintiff claimed that the Defendants, their servants or agents were guilty of negligence and breach of duty (including statutory duty).  At the hearing, the Plaintiff was asked why she did not return inside the office premises instead of making her way to her car in the darkness.  The Plaintiff indicated that she knew that there was a security man on duty but she did not know where he was in the building as he has to walk around the building in the evening-time doing his allocated tasks.  She added further that as she was a single mother of two girls then in their teenage years, she was keen to be off home.

The first-named Defendant appeared to be of the view at the hearing that because there is a contract of indemnity between itself and the second-named defendant, it follows that any liability presenting must be ascribed to the second-named defendant. The court rejected this contention and found that the common law duties to take reasonable steps to provide a safe plant and a safe place of work are such that they cannot be delegated to independent contractors so as to avoid the primary liability that devolves on employers to make sure that these duties are carried out. These are responsibilities which cannot be put to one side and so they must remain with the employer.

The court did not see that the generally pristine physical nature of the car park in which the Plaintiff fell in any way meets the failure, on the night that the lights failed, to  provide her with a safe means of egress from her office premises that did not occasion risk to her health.  Additionally, no witness was called by either Defendant to demonstrate that on the evening in question the lighting was fine and/or that the path leading to the car park was otherwise well.

The court found that there was a breach by the first named Defendant of the duty arising under s.15 of the Act of 2005 and also negligence on the part of the Defendants. Having regard to the Book of Quantum for assessing Damages, the court considered that the evidence before it points to the Plaintiff having suffered a moderately severe fracture that has resolved but with ongoing pain and suffering. Therefore, the court awarded the Plaintiff €75,000 in damages. The court also awarded costs in favour of the Plaintiff. 
https://www.courts.ie/view/judgments/29933394-e567-460a-991a-381243548ac3/2d1ae43a-b7b2-4319-97c1-d13353b0d85e/2020_IEHC_660.pdf/pdf