A judge who dismissed a €38,000 damages claim against Dublin City Council said yesterday local authorities could not be expected to place a worker at every manhole cover to ensure it was not vandalised or stolen.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne told Mr William Deans (42), who injured his knee and back in a fall at an uncovered fire hydrant, that he had failed to prove negligence by the council.
Mr Paul Burns, counsel for the local authority, had sought a dismissal of Mr Deans's claim on the grounds he had not shown the cover was defective or how long the hole had lain uncovered. "The hydrant cover could have been stolen only minutes before Mr Deans stumbled into the hole."
Mr Deans, Snowdrop Walk, Darndale, told the Circuit Civil Court he had heard a commotion caused by children and rushed around the side of his house. He had not seen the hole on the dark November evening in 2002.
He said he had to give up his hobby of gardening because of his back and knee injuries and had to fill in his garden pond because he had been unable to stoop or hunker down to tend his fish.
Mr Deans told Mr Burns he could not explain why his own doctor in April 2003 had noted he then had a full range of movement in his back, while the local authority's doctor had noted in January 2004 that he had been exaggerating his symptoms and "exhibiting a restriction of movement in his back".
Judge Dunne said that as well as applying the law to such cases the court also had to apply a degree of common sense.