Dublin worker gets €60,000 settlement from companies after seagull attack

Ray Managh

A workman, who was injured as he fled from attacking seagulls on the roof of a Dublin office block, has settled a €60,000 damages claim against six companies.

Judge Sarah Berkeley was told in the Circuit Civil Court today that Gavin Fox had accepted an undisclosed settlement offer and that his claim could be struck out.

Barrister Dermot Francis Sheehan, who appeared with Tyrell Solicitors for Mr Fox, said he had been injured by a door as he tried to escape.

Mr Fox, a 47-year-old mechanical technician of St Brigid’s Avenue, North Strand, Dublin, had stepped out of a door onto the roof of the 2GC Building in the centre of Dublin when a pair of nesting seagulls attacked.

He had run to escape them and injured his left hand as he burst back through the doorway. In defence documents, Mr Fox was alleged to have pushed the door instead of pulling it.

He received four stitches to a deep hand wound in the VHI Swiftcare Clinic in Swords on the day of the incident, missing a couple of days' work and having to return after a week to have the stitches removed.

Mr Fox sued his employers Vector Workplace and Facility Management; Aramark Property Services and Aramark Ireland Holdings, all with an address at 70 Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, as well as Rohan Holdings, Beaux House, Mercer Street Lower, Dublin 2, Jones Lang LaSalle and Jones Lang LaSalle Services, both of Styne House, Hatch Street, Dublin 2, associated with management of the building.

He claimed all of the defendants owed him a duty of care and had been negligent in having allowed seagulls to nest in a work area and failed to take adequate measures to control the number of seagulls.

Mr Sheehan told Judge Berkeley the case had been settled on the basis Mr Fox would recover damages within the €15,000 jurisdiction of the District Court.

Costs would be borne by the first three defendants, represented by barrister Padraic Hogan, with agreed contributions by the remaining defendants represented by barrister Robert O’Geibheannaigh.

Seagulls are protected birds, and it is illegal to disturb them during the nesting season between March and June.