A 65 year-old woman who broke her leg when she fell in church sued her priest yesterday for £25,000 compensation.
Mrs Marie Rennick, from Hillview, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, told a judge that as she was getting out of a pew to take communion a kneeling board fell down and trapped her foot.
"I fell into the aisle breaking my leg and had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance," she said in the High Court in Belfast.
The accident happened during midnight mass on Christmas Eve, 1994, at Holy Cross Catholic church, Lisnaskea.
Mr Justice Sheil was told the church had recently been renovated and the old fixed kneelers were replaced by ones on hinges.
Compensation was agreed at £25,000 and the only issue to be decided was whether or not there had been negligence to establish liability on the part of Canon Joseph Mullan, who was sued on behalf of the church trustees.
At the end of Mrs Rennick's case, Bernard McCluskey, QC, asked the judge to throw out the case as negligence had not been established.
But Thomas Cahill, QC, for Mrs Rennick, said the changes brought about by the renovations created a new situtation. "It was an accident waiting to happen," he said.
Mr Justice Sheil held that negligence had not been established and dismissed Mrs Rennick's case.
"I have great sympathy for the lady and don't dispute that she sustained a very nasty injury," he added.
The judge awarded legal costs against Mrs Rennick but as she had been granted legal aid to bring the case she will not have to pay anything.