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A WOMAN WAS injured in a nightclub when part of a punch-bag games machine fell on her foot, a court heard today.
In a claim for severe personal injuries, loss, damages and expenses, Maureen McGrath alleged the former joint directors of The Really Good Company, and O’Grady’s Bar and Club Mission, Newcastle West, Co Limerick, were negligent in locating the punch bag in the nightclub.
The joint director of the Club Mission nightclub, Declan O’Grady, of Kilcoleman Drive, Newcastle West, and Michael Hayes, of Castlemahon, Co Limerick, both denied negligence.
The court heard the company had since been wound up after entering into voluntary liquidation.
A co-defendant, Liam Lyons, of Farmers Bridge, Tralee, Co Kerry, who the court heard supplied the machine, also denied negligence.
McGrath’s barrister Peter Cline told the court the machine in question “has a punching bag attached to it” which allows people to “punch it” to measure their strength.
Judge Eugene O’Kelly, presiding, rhetorically enquired:
The machine doesn’t punch back does it?
Cline told Limerick Circuit Civil Court that McGrath was “standing beside the machine minding her own business” when another patron in the nightclub began using it.
He said the “boxing machine” tilted and began to rock.
A “steel footplate” on the machine “came down on the plaintiff and caused a crush injury to her right foot,” Mr Cline claimed.
“Significant pain”
He said McGrath, a 29-year old childcare worker from Askeaton, Co Limerick, was immediately left in “significant pain” and was taken from the nightclub by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.
Cline claimed the machine “should have been placed on a solid surface” as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
This machine should not have been placed in such a location where drink was been served to people at 2am in a smoking area, or in any part of a nightclub.
Judge O’Kelly noted a sticker on the machine described it as “indestructible”.
“It would appear to be a machine that can be rocked about in a nightclub by people testing what they can do to it and what it can do to them,” the judge added.
Later on, all parties agreed to resolve the matter out of court.
Striking out the case with an order for the plaintiffs costs, judge O’Kelly said:
I’m very pleased the matter is settled and I congratulate the parties and their legal administrators in agreeing a compromise on what might have been a very difficult case for everybody concerned.
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Interesting ploy. Look at the detail in his conditions.
We’ll sell the 29% stake to any *EU* airline, subject to approval from a *majority* of Aer Lingus shareholders.
- So he won’t sell to Etihad, long through to be a potential suitor for Aer Lingus
- He won’t sell a partial stake or reduce their shareholding
- The majority vote likely requires the Irish government to get involved.
What EU airline is going to buy a stake in Aer Lingus? I doubt the other budget players have the cash (or willing), and half the national flag carriers are broke.
This is posturing, not putting the Aer Lingus stake up for sale.
Nail on the head Ronan
its Eu competition law eitihad arent from the eu!
You forgot to mention… We will sell Aer Lingus to any EU airline*
*and then attempt to takeover that airline and get our grubby hands on both out of Irish jurisdiction.
@Paul
I think that’s the point – O’Leary is posturing and bluffing, not actually trying to sell his stake. Etihad are an airline that might actually want to buy the stake, so Ryanair have excluded them from their ‘offer’.
Etihad can never own over 49% of an EU airline due to EU rules, I wonder would they benefit from 30 odd percent in Aer Lingus, to be fair its a pretty damb cheap price if they were..
Etihad can never own over 49% of an EU company….however they own just 29.1% of Air Berlin but they pull the strings. Percentages don’t always give the whole story.
By stipulating “50.1%” and “EU airline only” Ryanair are deliberately excluding the most likely candidate to buy their share of Aer Lingus. No hedge funds and no Ethiad permitted equals PR stunt.
Virgin America is 75% held by a US based holding corporation as Virgin group being British, can’t own an airline in the US.
That’s Business! It’s not Sports! Michael O’Leary is Ireland’s #1 Business Man.
He is a Eire Nua prat
To the reality Tv generation maybe.
Something tells me you also think Justin Bieber is worlds greatest musician….
Great business man… 6 1/2 years of failed attempts and the man can’t pull off a hostile takeover. I think that gets you a spanking at Harvard business school.
But throw his picture in the papers every other week and have all the sheeple dumbed to the point they cant tell whats news or a reality Tv show saying ‘OMG! I like totes can’t believe he said that or is gonna do that, can’t wait to see what happens next week’ and your a great business man by popular vote…
So Andrew – tell me what company you took to the forefront of European business and changed the face of making it copied the world over?
Seamie o Leary admits he copied it from Southwest Airlines in the US after Tony Ryan sent him to take a look at it. Not his idea but having said that it seems to be doing alright.
@ Andrew. Have you ever heard of the long game? Are lingus is just a you for them anyway, it’s Micky mouse.
@ Andrew. Have you ever heard of the long game? Are lingus is just a you for them anyway, it’s Micky mouse.
Brilliant, looks like they have given up on trying to buy Aer Lingus
Or are they attempting to prove that no-one else wants it?
Greatest Irish business, the best of the 21st century!
Greatest Irish business? stupid comment
Please explain how it isn’t a successful business.
It’s a top 3 airliner in Europe originating in one of the smallest countries in the EU.
Just because O’Leary is a pr#^k doesn’t mean he isn’t a great businessman. One of our best.
Yes Adam I agree with you Aer Lingus have been a top class business and a top class employer for three quarters of a century now .
Ryanair has made it affordable to travel. I still find Aer Lingus fares extortionate in most cases. Can you image without the Ryanair competition what Aer Lingus fares would have been during the Celtic Tiger years??
Conor is my brother
Us Powers know what we’re talking sbout
Connor I agree we owe Ryanair a lot as they have made air fares all over Europe cheaper. However I dont think you can claim Aer Lingus is extortionate. Especially when you take into account the extra charges and the airports they fly to.
Ok I’ll tone it down from extortionate to exorbitant.
I’m surprised Aer Lingus haven’t gone out of business with how low their fares are. Flying to Heathrow with AL is cheaper then with Ryanair to a crap airport like Stansted. But yes if it weren’t for Ryanair the fares would be still extremely expensive. AL’s long haul flights are really cheap as well in comparison to all other carriers available when I come home from the US.
Not really the greatest.. not yet.. they still have CRH to contend with and there are a bunch of others around them that you do not hear too much about.. but every bit as innovative and well run..
@ Cooper. Ross is correct. It’s a tactic.
@ Bill. Largely at the tax payers expense. The company hasn’t made a profit in decades. So it’s a badly run inefficient business. In stark contrast to Ryanair which employs many more people and makes a profit.
@cooper. Ryainair revolutionized accessibility to air travel in Europe. Don’t underplay it. Flights to London in the 80s were 500pounds and more.
So you have flown to LHR and stansted and you prefer LHR? Are you insane?
@simonjblake when was the last time taxpayers money was used to prop up Aer Lingus ?
Could you also estimate the massive amount of tax etc paid by its employees over seven decades think you will find the latter greatly exceeds the former and by the way you won’t be paying much tax to the government on a Ryanair minimum wage
Simonjblake I’m not underestimating what Ryanair have done for air travel in Europe I acknowledged it above we owe them alot.
LHR is better for both getting into London and connections onwards. I do it a few times a year
Read Wikipedia and you find the answers to all your remarkable questions. Where do you think the states involvement was upto the 2006 flotation? At 4:1 employee numbers in favour to ryanair you probably are right that more tax is generated by aer Lingus employees due to the fact they are overpaid. If you genuinely believe AL is better then Ryanair then I hope you have no influencial roles in life bar maybe what brand of baked beans your wife buys.
Why all the begrudgers? 30 years ago Irish people were paying Aer Lingus 200 punts to get to London, today we are paying an equivalent of about 40 punts, thanks to Ryanair.
Michael O’ Leary doesn’t court popularity but he carries multi thousands of Irish and other Europeans to many destinations at very affordable fares.
And if Ryanair take over Aer Lingus then expect extortionate fares all round again. It wasn’t Ryanair that brought prices down. It was competition. O’Leary wants to do away with that now that Ryanair is the larger of the two.
Only right. It’s like Sky having a 25% stake in UPC. Ridiculous.
Cannot wait until this wee Man falls, just like the mighty Quinn.
It’s far more likely you’ll fall….. and O’Leary wouldn’t give a toss.
He’s not a foolish gambler like Quinn was.
The best thing about Ryanair is that you can avoid most of the plebs when you fly Aer Lingus.
I used to have to travel to Belfast to get home to Scotland pre-ryanair as Aer Lingus was so expensive. Have their critics like all companies but have a big fan here.
Making an offer to sell something to demonstrate a point will have the CC tied up in knots. They cannot consider another EU airline as being substantially any different to Ryanair as regards competition. However, the effect of the combined actions of the UK CC and the Irish Government will be seen to have an effect of the value of the Ryanair shareholding.
This is not an offer to sell. It’s O’Leary holding up a mirror.
Hope they sell to an airline in the Star Alliance.
Why? Why not a One World or Sky Team airline?
Michael O’Leary reminds me of Bono. Both prats, but you can’t deny both of them are the heads of very successful international groups.
So, they’re NOT going to sell unless another airline manages to buy 50.1% first?
The British, as usual, have a damned cheek!!
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