Court of Appeal overturns award to dance teacher who slipped

The Court of Appeal has overturned a €30,000 award to a dance teacher who claimed she injured her ankle when she slipped on a bumpy floor while teaching an aerobics “body attack” class.

Sarah Moloney, Holywell Crescent North, Swords, Co Dublin, sued Templeville Developments over the accident at Templeville's fitness centre in Clontarf, Dublin, on November 7th, 2007.

She was awarded €30,050 by the High Court in 2013 but that was overturned on Tuesday by a three-judge appeal court.

Mr Justice Michael Peart, on behalf of the appeal court, found Ms Moloney had failed to prove her case for negligence which was on the basis that there was rucking and buckling of the tiled floor surface of the Clontarf centre.

Ms Moloney was employed as a dance teacher/gym instructor at the centre and was on a raised stage leading a “high octane fast and energetic dance class which she described in evidence as a ‘body attack class’”, Mr Justice Peart said.

She said that, out of the blue, she went over on her ankle and fell to the ground. She sustained a “nasty soft tissue injury” and was taken to a Swiftcare clinic where an X-ray showed there was no fracture of her ankle.

She alleged her employer failed to provide a safe floor surface.

In her initial claim, she said she had slipped on “a bumpy floor”. Later, in reply to a request for further details of the accident, it was claimed the defendant had provided a premises for an aerobics class which was not fit for purpose “given the presence of rucking and buckling of the surface of the floor”.

No flooring defects

In the High Court in 2013, Mr Justice Michael Moriarty found the claim of rucking and buckling could not be sustained as engineers for both sides did not find any inherent defects in the "Pavegym" type of flooring in the centre.

However, Mr Justice Moriarty said that during the case a photo of Ms Moloney’s Facebook promotion page was produced which showed “undoubted signs” of moisture on the floor.

The focus of the case then changed to the floor being slippery or moist which was the original basis of the claim, Mr Justice Moriarty said.

Saying it was not an easy case to decide, he found Ms Moloney was “a careful and balanced witness” and it seemed unlikely she would have fallen for no reason.

He found Ms Moloney was 30 per cent at fault and awarded her a total of €30,050.

Templeville appealed and Ms Moloney cross-appealed the 30 per cent liability finding.

Overturning the award, Mr Justice Peart said the case for moisture on the floor as the reason for the fall had never been made. Ms Moloney had given no evidence she had slipped on a wet floor.

The High Court did not make any finding there was moisture on the floor and was given no evidence this was so, he said.

“It was insufficient to state merely that there must have been some reason to cause the plaintiff to fall,” he said.

While she had suffered a very unfortunate accident which had clouded her ability to perform as a dance instructor, the “plain fact of the matter” was she had been unable to demonstrate any negligence by the defendant.