Injured Weightlifter Fails In Bid To Sue Gym

A weightlifter has failed in his bid to sue a leisure centre after he suffered a neck fracture while lifting 100kg.

Billy Morrow claimed he had not been given proper instructions on lifting the weights and tried to sue Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council.

But High Court judge Mr Justice Gillen dismissed the negligence case, saying Mr Morrow, an experienced weightlifter, was aware of the risks.

The court heard that at the time of the accident he had been going to the gym up to five times a week.

He suffered a spinous process fracture while squat lifting a barbell in January 2010.

A fitness instructor was with him to offer help and check his technique, but Mr Morrow claimed he had never received a proper induction into using the equipment.

The judge acknowledged that the fitness studio needed to keep more rigorous records of inductions, but he sided nevertheless with the gym's account that Mr Morrow had been given an induction and weightlifting advice.

He noted that the bodybuilder had gone to the trouble of buying a weightlifting belt and gloves.

Mr Justice Gillen cleared the fitness instructor and gym of any blame, saying: "I consider that the plaintiff was lifting a weight he was used to in a safe environment which was properly organised with adequate facilities in circumstances where he had been properly instructed and monitored by an experienced and appropriately trained spotter. His injury was simply an unfortunate accident in the context of an exercise where the risk of injury is inherent."

(NE/GK)