Man who fell through GAA club roof loses injuries claim because he was a member

Ms Justice Siobhán Stack said the “critical and insuperable problem” for Séamus Brady was that the premises where the incident occurred was in the occupation of the club of which he was a member.

It is a “long-standing legal principle” that a club, as an unincorporated association of persons, cannot be sued by one of its members, she said.

The judge found Mr Brady was, under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995, an “occupier” of the club premises, rather than a “visitor”, by virtue of his membership.

The proceedings were based on Mr Brady’s claim that he was a “visitor” so the club owed him a common duty of care.

Mr Brady, of Tubberfin, Donore, Co Meath, sued nominee of the club trustees, Peter Moore, and committee chairman, Paul Scanlon, as representatives of St Mary’s Donore GAA Club, in Donore, over the incident on September 26, 2015.

The judge said Mr Brady suffered “very serious injuries” which included fractures to his wrist, shoulder and elbow, nerve damage to his hand and soft tissue injuries to his back, shoulder and nose.

He continues to have difficulties with some of the injuries and he also suffered from anxiety and depression following the accident and is unable to work, she said.

She noted the club’s insurance policy, which she was told is a standard policy widely used by GAA clubs, does not cover the claim.

The club was not legally represented, but members who appeared in court submitted that they did not want to dispute what Mr Brady said and they acknowledged the seriousness of his injuries, said the judge.

The court heard the club’s committee decided to refurbish the clubhouse and thought the roof slates might be salvageable.

Mr Brady was among the members who volunteered to help, and, the judge said, “it seems that little or no regard was paid to health and safety”.

An engineer for Mr Brady said that once the slates were removed, only felt remained. Mr Brady stepped on the felt and fell through the roof of the one-storey clubhouse to the ground, said the judge.

Case law from 1987 set that a person cannot sue a club of which he or she is a member because “one cannot sue oneself”, Ms Justice Stack said.

While there was evidence that Mr Scanlon took some kind of administrative lead in relation to the project, the voluntary works were agreed by the membership and participation by individual members was on an “entirely voluntary basis”, the judge said.

There was no basis to justify imposing an additional liability on any particular person in the club, she said.

If liability were too readily imposed, people who otherwise volunteer their time might be dissuaded from doing so and this would be damaging to the social life and leisure pursuits of much of the population, she said.

Imposition of a duty of care in these circumstances would result in a “chilling effect” on a wide range of social and leisure pursuits, she added.