Man Who Slipped On Spilled Baileys Irish Cream In Airport Awarded $5 Million

Photo: Bryn Lennon / Staff (Getty Images)

A Swiss businessman who slipped on a puddle of Baileys Irish Cream inside London’s Heathrow Airport has been awarded $5 million over the November 2017 fall. And while $5 million might sound like a lot for a simple fall, the Guardian reports that Andreas Wuchner suffered a traumatic brain injury when he fell, resulting in painful headaches and other long-term side effects that he claims have damaged his business. Who knew a little Baileys could cause so much harm?

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At the time of the fall, Wuchner was reportedly in a hurry to make his flight but stopped at a Starbucks to pick up several coffees. While trying to balance four coffees on a try and get to his gate as quickly as possible, he slipped in a puddle of spilled Baileys, flew into the air spilling the coffees and hit his head hard on the floor when he landed. The resulting headaches can reportedly last as long as two weeks.

“I really enjoy a proper coffee out of a coffee machine, rather than the normal airport coffee, which is why I went to Starbucks,” Wuchner told the court. “I went as quickly as possible to the boarding gate, bearing in mind I had four coffees in my hand. I wasn’t running, but I went as quickly as I could. I was walking swiftly, bearing in mind the safety of my coffee cups.”

Ultimately, the judge decided that British Airways should have cleaned up the spill faster and at least warned passengers to avoid it. Still, he didn’t award Wuchner the full $6.4 million that he sued for because his rush to get to the gate amounted to “contributory negligence.” So instead, he’ll get 80 percent of that figure or about $5 million. As Judge Saunders said in his ruling:

It seems inevitable that, through his delay and attempt to obtain last-minute coffees, the claimant had placed himself under greater pressure to board the flight in time, having missed his earlier flight, and been delayed in security.

It is a likely scenario that he was anxious to catch his flight, and that the pressure he had imposed upon himself had made that pressure even greater. That, in my view, contributed to the accident.