The Court of Appeal (CoA) has upheld a €65,000 award to a 10-year-old girl who was injured when she fell at a skating rink and another patron skated over the back of her hand.
Aoibhe Naghten, now aged 15, of Blanchardstown, Dublin, through her mother Teresa Crowley, sued Cool Running Events Ltd, with offices at Glanmire, Co Cork, operators of the pop-up ice rink at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre on December 30, 2015.
It was claimed there was overcrowding and inadequate supervision in the ice-rink on the day when 285 people were present for that particular session.
The defendant denied the claims. It alleged the girl voluntarily assumed the risk of being injured by an established doctrine which states someone who willingly puts themselves in a dangerous situation cannot sue for any resulting injuries (the doctrine of volenti non fit injuria ).