A High Court Judge has strongly criticised lifejacket manufacturers who did not issue a warning to the public after a man drowned due to a faulty jacket in the River Lee.
At the High Court in Cork, Mr Justice Paul Butler, awarded €519,000 in damages to a Cork woman for the death of her husband.
He said the regulatory authorities should investigate the situation and whether there was a criminal breach of reckless endangerment.
He wondered if the decision not to issue a public warning had been caused by what he termed ‘a desk-bound bean counter’.
69-year-old widow Ella Sweeney was awarded the damages against C H Marine, the retailers of the Baltic Winner 150 lifejacket in Ireland, and Swedish company Baltic Safety Products.
They admitted liability and the hearing was to assess damages.
The Court was told that there had been no apology to Mrs Sweeney for the death of her husband. The case centred on a defective non-returnable valve in the jacket and it was stated that there is also a third-party claim involved against the valve makers, the American Halkey Roberts Corporation.
Mrs Sweeney was awarded damages for the death and for her own personal suffering. The court was told she suffered from severe post-traumatic shock.
Her husband died on 18 August 2003, when he fell from a boat near Blackrock in Cork. The lifejacket partially inflated and was said to have contributed to his death.
Senior Counsel Jeremy Maher, for C H Marine and Baltic, assured the Judge that none of the types of jacket using the defective mechanism involved in the case had been sold for the past five years and said that the faulty mechanism had not been made since June 2003.
He said that the Baltic company had also reported the matter to the European Union.
The Judge said he was glad to hear that.
