The Circuit Civil Court has held that an Irish tourist may sue a Spanish hotelier in the Irish courts for damages relating to an accident while on holiday.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne said the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court had been challenged by Barbican SA, a limited liability company with registered office in the Canary Islands. Barbican had been sued in association with Falcon Leisure Group (Overseas) Ltd, an Irish tour operator.
The action related to an injury received by a holidaymaker who slipped on the surround of a swimming pool at an apartment building. Judge Dunne said the jurisdiction of the court over a defendant outside the State was derived from the Brussels convention which became part of Irish law under the Jurisdiction of Courts and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments (European Communities) Act, 1988.
The judge held that if there was an inherent defect in the surround to the swimming pool pre-existing the time of the making of the contract between the tourist and Falcon it would come within the requirements of the Brussels convention.
Such might not be the case in circumstances where the accident occurred because of a failure to clean the swimming pool surround on the morning of the accident.
Assuming the swimming pool to be defective at the relevant time, the evidence before the court showed a causative link between the retention by Falcon Leisure of Barbican SA, according to Judge Dunne.
The question that then arose was whether the events complained of brought the matter within the jurisdiction of the Irish courts on the basis that the harmful event occurred within the Irish jurisdiction.
While the damage occurred abroad, the judge said, the holiday had been arranged in Ireland by a reliance on the expertise of Falcon in selecting the Barbican apartments. Therefore "the event giving rise to the damage" had occurred within the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court.