This article is from page 21 of the 2013-03-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
A CLARE businessman has been ordered to pay just over € 13,000 to a 15 year-old girl who broke her wrist after she came off an inflatable slide.
Mike McKee of the Shannon based HT Promotions was ordered to pay damages of € 12, 500 and special damages of € 630 to Kyiah Moloney, at Ennis Circuit Civil Court on Tuesday.
Kyiah Moloney, with an address at Clancy Park, Ennis was suing through her mother Jacinta Moloney.
The girl was aged 11 when the occurred at a party at Carnelly Woods, near Clarecastle on June 6 2008. Kyiah Moloney sustained the injuries after a section of an inflatable slide deflated “suddenly and without warning”, the court heard.
The plaintiff claimed that the slide deflated because of an inadequate repair job carried out a few days earlier at the section of the slide where it deflated.
Mr McKee told the court that the slide could not have deflated in the manner alleged as the structure of the bouncy castle is compartmentalised in such a way to take into ac- count the effect of tears.
Mr McKee said the company advises hirers that only two people be allowed on the slide in question at the one time.
Under cross-examination from Counsel for Moloney, Pat Whyms BL, Mr McKee admitted that the restriction is not included in the printed terms and conditions given to customers.
Mr McKee said that the slide could have deflated because of someone jumping on the area.
The court heard that HT Promotions provides a range of inflatables and that the terms and conditions is a standard document.
Judge Tom O’Donnell said he was satisfied that no negligence is applicable to the plaintiff.
He said he was satisfied that there was no evidence of abuse of the section where deflation occurred.
He said he considered the terms and conditions “vague in the extreme”. Judge O’Donnell said it was “not adequate” that the hirer is given an oral warning regarding the number of people permitted in the inflatable.
He said that on the balance of probabilities, the plaintiff is entitled to succeed.