The High Court has awarded over half-a-million euro to a man who suffered multiple severe injuries when a lift in a Kerry hotel plummeted three floors to the ground.
Kevin Meehan and four others were in a lift at the Killarney Plaza Hotel when it suddenly dropped to the concrete basement car park.
Mr Justice Michael Hanna described the accident, which occurred 10 years ago, as “the stuff of nightmares.”
Kevin Meehan ended up with multiple fractures to the spine and knee injuries and was in a wheelchair for three months after the accident.
The 43-year-old is one of five from an extended family including his wife who sued over the accident as they tried to return to their rooms in the Killarney Plaza Hotel after a wedding on July 9, 2011.
Mr Meehan's brother Andrew and his sister-in-law Patricia O'Leary from Co Meath previously settled on confidential terms their High Court actions.
Kevin Meehan from Celbridge, Co Kildare had sued the hotel owners, Shawcove Ltd with registered offices at Castleisland, and companies involved in installing and maintaining lifts Ellickson Engineering Ltd, in receivership of Kilmurry, Waterford; Kilell Ltd also of Kilmurry, Waterford and Otis Ltd, Naas Road Business Park, Dublin and Otis Elevator Ireland Ltd of the same address, as well as lift components manufacturer Daldoss Elevetronic Spa of Valsugana, Italy.
Mr Justice Hanna said there was no doubt Mr Meehan suffered a frightening experience as he saw an immediate threat not only to his own life but also to his wife's.
The judge said Mr Meehan's back injuries were at the severe end of the scale and he also suffered bilateral injuries to his knees. He was a very active person from a young age and in the years after the accident he had increasing difficulty with his knees and will in the future require knee replacements.
The injury to his right knee, the judge said, should be viewed as a severe and permanent condition.
Mr Justice Hanna will now hear the cases of Kevin Meehan's wife Jennie Wong and his brother Paul Meehan.
