Galway Bay fm newsroom - Supermac's is being sued for damages by a 55 year old woman who claims she injured herself after a chair she was sitting on broke at the Eyre Square branch.
Pamela Dudgeon sued Supermac's Ireland Limited in the Circuit Court for personal injuries she claims she suffered on January 6th 2017.
In a pre-trial ruling at the High Court on Monday Mr Justice Anthony Barr ruled that Pamela Dudgeon was not entitled to CCTV pictures of the incident in advance of the hearing of her claim.
Supermac's opposed the application claiming she wanted to use the footage in order to mend her hand, should it be the case that the images do not support her version of events.
Ms Dudgeon aged 55 years from Woodlands Grove, Coosan Road, Athlone, Co. Westmeath claims she fell in a twisting type mechanism and was extremely embarrassed by the incident.
She claims she suffered injuries to her lower back, backside and abdominal muscles and required pain killers.
She claims the defendant was negligent which resulted in her sustaining personal injuries for which she seeks damages.
In its defence Supermac's denies the claim or that it was negligent.
While it accepts that the chair she sat on broke and was defective, it denies that she fell to the ground and suffered the injuries as alleged.
In a pretrial motion against Supermac's Ms Dudgeon's lawyers sought access to CCTV pictures of the accident.
The application, which was opposed by Supermac's, was rejected by Circuit Court Judge Raymond Groake.
That decision was appealed by Ms Dudgeon to the High Court.
At the High Court, John Hogan BL for Ms Dudgeon argued the CCTV pictures were "absolutely essential" to the claim.
James O'Donnell BL for Supermac's said while his client accepted that the chair broke, it is disputed that she fell to the ground as alleged.
In his ruling Mr Justice Barr said he was satisfied the defendant did not have to provide the CCTV images of what happened to Ms Dudgeon.
Upholding the lower court's ruling the Judge said he was satisfied she did not require the CCTV pictures in order to progress her claim.
