Posted: July 20th, 2019
The widow of Martin Flannery who lost his life following suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, has settled her personal injury compensation action for €170,000 at the High Court. Justice Tom Cross was informed that that on September 11, 2015 Mr Flannery was seeing if the petrol generators set up to heat a newly-built house for his niece were working ok. The house was being heated ahead of a first fix airtight test that was due to take place on the day that the tragic incident took place. Mr Martin Flannery had seen that the power generators at 10.30am and was due to go back and check on them again once he had left his wife to the local town. When the air tight specialist called to the house at 12.30pm to conduct the test he powered off one of the generators that was still turned on. Following this he recognized a strange smell and became dizzy as he went upstairs in the building. At this point he went outside of the house to clear his head. His discovered Mr Flannery unconscious in a room at the back of the house when he returned inside. Despite his best efforts to revive him Mr.Flannery was pronounced dead at hospital The official inquest into 66-year-old Martin Flannery’s tragic death returned a verdict of accidental death and the coroner John O’Dwyer said the helping his brother and his niece when he died. Mr Flannery’s wife of 42 years, Eileen, took the carbon monoxide compensation claim against Declan Costello and her husband’s niece Laura Costello, the owners of the property where the accident occurred, During the hearing allegations were made that there was not sufficient ventilation in place in the building, that the house has been allegedly permitted to become toxic with carbon monoxide fumes and that the house was not closed off properly while the generators were in use and until the place had been made safe. Legal counsel for the defence denied all of these claims. At the High Court Justice Tom Cross was advised that, when the accident took place, the house was currently at first fix stage in construction and had an air tight test set to go ahead that day. Due to this the house was had to be heated and two fan heaters and an oil heater were being used. These heaters were being operated using two petrol generators as electricity had not yet been turned on at the house. A settlement for €170,000 carbon monoxide poisoning compensation was approved by Justice Cross.Categories: Accident News, Compensation News, Personal Injury, Personal Injury News
