A woman who alleged she was tripped at a Spin Roller Disco by an unidentified child, who put its leg out in front of her as she walked through a crowd, has been awarded €25,000 damages against the company running the event.

Barbara Thomas, a 44-year-old executive officer, told Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that as a result of the trip she had fallen and suffered a fractured thumb and whiplash-type injuries as a result of hitting her head against a wall.

She sued Spin Roller Disco Limited, Spin Building, Walkinstown, Dublin, alleging that the incident had been caused by the negligence and breach of duty.

She claimed Spin Roller Disco had failed to implement a proper safety regime against the risks posed by a crowd of inadequately supervised children.

Ms Thomas, of St Anthony’s Crescent, Greenhills, Dublin, told her counsel Ciaran Mandal that she had tripped over a small child and had suffered injuries to her neck and shoulders and thumb as well as blunt force injury to both her kneecaps. She had been off work for a week and had attended her GP.

Judge Groarke heard that she had to wear a splint to immobilise her thumb which had caused a reduced range of movement and grip strength in her right hand.

Her employment had involved many tasks involving manual dexterity such as typing and writing and this had caused her pain after extended periods of activity.

Counsel for Spin Roller Disco Limited told Judge Groarke that Keans, his instructing solicitors, had been unable to obtain directions from the company whose defence had already been struck out by the court for failure to make discovery in the case. He said he was unable to assist the court in relation to any matter relating to the case.

After awarding Ms Thomas damages of €25,000, Judge Groarke granted Mr Mandal leave to apply again to the court relating to the status of the company.

Mr Mandal said Spin Roller Disco Limited was no longer operating and it appeared that a couple of years ago the same directors  had set up a new company, in new premises, to carry on activities similar to Spin Roller Disco.

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