Woman who fell from hotel window on wedding night settles personal injury court action

High Court Reporter

A bride who fell 20 to 25 feet from a second-storey hotel window on her wedding night - and suffered fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and injuries to her back, leg, hip and pelvic bone - has had her personal injury case resolved at the High Court.

Jackie Sexton (nee Tyrrell) took the case against Deebert House Hotel Ltd, Kilmallock, Co Limerick, over the incident that occurred in the late hours after her February 29th, 2020, wedding.

The hotel denied liability for the fall and fully contested the claim, saying they had properly fitted the windows in the hotel with restrictors in 2014 and were in full compliance with building standards.

Mother-of-two, Ms Sexton, alleged negligence and breach of duty in failing to take reasonable care that the plaintiff would be safe in the hotel room.

In evidence on Friday morning, Ms Sexton told her senior counsel, Mr Barney Quirke, that she and her husband returned to the hotel from the wedding reception held at a different location at around 3.30am and that they went to room 217. Ms Sexton told the court that a lot of drink had been taken on her wedding day and that the last thing she could remember of the night was sitting in her underwear on the windowsill with her feet resting on the table.

Ms Sexton (37), originally from The Curragh, Co Kildare, but who now lives in Croom, Co Limerick, said she was smoking a cigarette at the window when she fell.

The next thing she remembered was waking up in Limerick University Hospital the next day with a morphine clicker, she said. Ms Sexton said she only found out what happened when her husband, Christopher, told her.

Mr Quirke told the court in his opening speech that Mr Sexton returned from the bathroom to the bedroom, where there was no sign of his wife and the window was open. Mr Quirke said that Mr Sexton went into a panic and though he could not see his wife from the window, he could hear "moaning or groaning" from the paving area below.

Counsel submitted that Ms Sexton fell from a height to snowy, wet concrete and that the area where she fell was restricted and it took some time to get to her.

She had suffered multiple fractures to her ribs, injury to her back, right leg, hip, pelvic bone, a kidney infarction and a collapsed lung.

Her lawyers submitted that "the wedding weekend was destroyed as a result of the accident".

Ms Sexton told the court she had been an active person, who enjoyed walking and swimming, had a jockey licence since her teens and had qualified in horsemanship. She had worked in hospitality, at the local Spar shop and in medical device production before the fall, jobs which, she said, she can no longer do due to the ongoing back and leg pain.

Ms Sexton said her "painful and scary" rehabilitation process towards mobility - which occurred through Covid - involved the initial surgery, the use of a cervical collar, a spinal brace, a wheelchair, crutches, physiotherapy and strong medication.

Just after lunchtime on Friday, while Aidan Doyle SC, for the hotel, was due to continue cross-examining Ms Sexton, the plaintiff's side notified Ms Justice Denis Brett that both sides were talking to each other in the hope of agreeing a resolution.

Just after 3pm on Friday, Mr Quirke said the matter had been resolved and that it could be struck out without any costs order. Ms Justice Brett then struck out the case, which had been slated to last five days, and passed on her best wishes to Ms Sexton.