Contestant who won €34k on game show sues RTE after ‘fall’
Woman scooped money on the Million Euro Challenge show
A WOMAN who won €34,000 on an RTÉ game show has issued High Court proceedings against the broadcaster and the national lottery, seeking damages after she was allegedly injured in a fall on the Montrose campus.
Sharon Claxton, from Rathdowney, Co. Laois, won €34,000 on January 31, 2015, on The Million Euro Challenge game show on RTÉ One, shortly after the first programme had aired.
The short-lived Million Euro Challenge show, which was fronted by DJ Nicky Byrne, was dropped by RTÉ in 2015 as viewer figures plummeted to 165,000.
The show had been criticised over its complicated format and the modest size of the cash prizes.
The show had originally been poised to replace Winning Streak, which regularly attracted double that number of viewers in the same Saturday-night slot.
However, the host of Winning Streak, Marty Whelan, said at the time he was confident that the show, which first ran in 1990, would return to TV screens.
This turned out to be prescient as Winning Streak was brought back to replace Million Euro Challenge in the winter schedule.
Ms Claxton has now initiated civil proceedings in a personal-liability case in the High Court against RTÉ, RTÉ Commercial Enterprises DAC, and two companies associated with the National Lottery, Premier Lotteries Ireland Holdings DAC and Premier Lotteries Ireland DAC.
Sources have told the Irish Mail on Sunday that the proceedings are not centred on issues related to Ms Claxton’s monetary prize, nor are they connected to non-monetary prizes, but rather on another issue, arising from an alleged fall or slip within the grounds of RTÉ.
When contacted by this newspaper, Ms Claxton, who issued affidavits in the case in August 2017, declined to comment, as did her legal representatives in Co. Tipperary.
A date for the hearing has not yet been set, nor have affidavits been filed to date on behalf of RTÉ.
A spokesperson for the national broadcaster told the MoS that it would not comment on legal cases before the courts.
A spokesperson for the National Lottery said the same.
Ms Claxton has also been one of only two winners of the local weekly lotto jackpot in Rathdowney Golf Club so far this year, scooping the jackpot prize of €3,600 in October.
Speaking about the number of defendants in the legal case, one source explained: ‘The issue of liability in this case is akin to being in a car crash, being rear-ended and having three or four cars behind you.
‘You’d name them all, as you don’t know which car caused the crash.
‘It could be the fourth car back, or the second car back.’
Some 78% of the personal injury cases which proceed to the High Court see awards varying from €60,000 to €199,000 handed down to those whose claims are successful, while in the Circuit Court awards cannot exceed €60,000.
A tiny fraction of High Court plaintiffs are awarded less than €60,000, according to figures from the Courts Service.
Figures for cases finalised in 2015 reveal that while 10% of plaintiffs received €200,000 to €499,999, a further 10% received more than €500,000.
The numbers of awards in personal injuries cases at the High Court has risen from 124 in 2008, with total awards of €50,672,427 approved, to €154,915,926 in 2014, as a result of 509 approved awards
It rose again in 2015 to €168,106,004, as a result of 469 approved awards.
The Premier Lotteries Ireland Holdings DAC posted losses of €16.6m by the end of 2016, according to the most recent accounts filed, after taking in €750m in ticket sales.
Some €422m was paid out in prize money and a further €213m went to good causes.
An alleged fall or slip within grounds of RTÉ