A shopper, who slipped on a discarded baby wipe in Argos and damaged his shoulder when he fell, has been awarded 17,500 Euros in slip in Argos injury compensation at Dublin´s Circuit Civil Court.
Declan Conroy from East Wall, Dublin, had been shopping in the Henry Street branch of Argos in May 2008 when the accident occurred. On the way to the counter to order a lawnmower for his mother, he slipped on a baby wipe which had been left on the floor and fell – badly injuring his shoulder.
After receiving medical treatment, Declan made a claim for slip in Argos injury compensation against the store – claiming that their system of checking the store for potential hazards was inadequate and he had suffered an injury as a result.
Argos denied liability; arguing that CCTV footage revealed the presence of the baby wipe just six minutes before Declan´s accident and contending that staff could not be asked to constantly monitor the condition of the floor in a low-risk store.
However, Judge Jacqueline Linnane at the Circuit Civil Court heard a forensic engineer – testifying on behalf of Declan – explain that because of the extra footfall in the queuing area, a higher level of vigilance should be applied. It was also revealed that CCTV footage from five minutes before the baby wipe first appeared showed a woman pushing a baby buggy through the area.
After hearing all the evidence, Judge Jacqueline Linnane ruled that on the balance of probabilities it was the woman with the baby buggy who was responsible for dropping the baby wipe and, as more than ten minutes would have passed between the hazard being present and Declan sustaining his injury, she was attaching liability to Argos. She awarded Declan 17,500 Euros for slip in Argos injury compensation plus costs.