The High Court has awarded more than €45,000 damages, plus costs, to a woman whose hair fell out following a colouring treatment at a hair salon.
Ms Aileen Dunleavy (40), a mother of three, Caiseal Mara, Salthill, Galway, had sued Swanpark Ltd, t/a Hair Republic, Westside Shopping Centre, Galway, over a colouring treatment at the salon on March 28th 2007.
She claimed the treatment damaged her hair and it subsequently fell out and took about 18 months to grow back.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith Ó Neill said he was quite satisfied the defendant was “wholly responsible” for the damages and injury suffered by Ms Dunleavy.
Ms Dunleavy went to the salon to have her hair cut and coloured and what happened was “a disaster”, he said.
The judge dismissed claims by the defendant that Ms Dunleavy insisted on having colour applied or had been warned not to have the treatment on grounds it was too soon after a previous colouring treatment on March 1st 2007.
He said he could not accept any woman would have undergone the treatment had they been warned in advance there was a potential risk of damaging her hair. Ms Dunleavy had the colouring applied by a stylist who was “inexperienced and “insufficiently skilled”, the judge added.
The judge was also critical of “heavy-handedness” on the part of the defence in having Ms Dunleavy’s estranged husband and his mother present in court during the proceedings. They had been listed to given evidence on behalf of the defence but were not called, the judge noted.
The judge said he was quite satisfied Ms Dunleavy was a truthful and honest witness and said he fully accepted her account of events.
He accepted, as a result of the trauma, she had been unable to paint in a meaningful way for 18 months after the incident.
He further accepted that she had become social withdrawn due “to the sense of embarrassment” she suffered as a result of what happened to her hair. He awarded Ms Dunleavy total damages of €45,726 damages.