THE Allen family have been in touch with Irish Horse World over recent coverage of plaintiff Clare Allen vs defendants, Clonshire Equestrian Centre, and the University of Limerick court case.

The Allens pointed out that Judge Cian Ferriter did not find ‘rider error’ was to blame for the accident as earlier reported.

‘Rider error’ was part of the defence forwarded by the second defendants in the case, the University of Limerick.

In his summation, Judge Ferriter said: “It follows, in my view, that the plaintiff’s very unfortunate accident was just that – an accident – and cannot be attributed in law to any wrongdoing on the part of the defendants.

“While I have concluded that the plaintiff’s injuries were caused by an unfortunate accident for which the defendants have no legal liability, I wish to emphasise that I found the plaintiff to be an impressive young woman who commendably got on with her life without complaint following the accident,” said Judge Ferriter.

The outcome of this case was the court dismissed the plaintiff’s personal injuries claim which centred on the use of an alleged unsuitable bucking horse allocated to the plaintiff, then a University of Limerick student, in a lesson on November 28th 2013.

The plaintiff, in the second year of a four-year equine course at UL at the time, unfortunately suffered a two-part fracture of one of her lumbar vertebrae.