A couple whose domestic lives were seriously disrupted after two dishwashers went on fire in their home have been awarded £19,427 damages for loss of property and distress.
Judge Bryan McMahon said in the Circuit Court that Mr Barry Byrne and Mrs Yvonne Byrne, of Grange Park Rise, Raheny, Dublin, had suffered serious anxiety, stress and family disruption following the fires.
The Byrnes had sued EID Appliances Sales Ltd, trading as Elektro Services, Longmile Road, Dublin; Freezer Queen Ltd, trading as Redmond Electrical, Main Street, Gorey, Co Wexford, and McKennas Electrical Ltd, Deansgrange Industrial Estate, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Judge McMahon said the Byrnes had bought a Bendix dishwasher in 1986. It had gone on fire three years later, damaging their home and leading to the evacuation and temporary "farming out" of their children. A replacement Bendix dishwasher had been installed. It had gone on fire in August 1992, leading to further great inconvenience and disruption in the home.
Judge McMahon said liability had not been conceded until the court case, 11 years after the initial fire. For damage to their home he awarded the couple £7,427, together with £5,000 interest. He said the anxiety and stress which followed the 1989 fire had been greatly exacerbated by the 1992 fire. This had not been helped by the slow progress of the claim, which he felt had not been addressed as quickly by the defendants as it might have been. Judge McMahon, who had been granted unlimited jurisdiction in the case, awarded Mr Byrne £4,500 and Mrs Byrne £2,500 in damages for stress and inconvenience, bringing the total to £19,427.