yesterday ordered to pay nearly $7,000 to a tourist for the "loss and pain'' she suffered after slipping on one of the resort's pathways seven years ago.

But the management company escaped having to fork out thousands of dollars more when Puisne Judge the Hon. Mrs. Norma Wade found no connection between the 1985 fall and back pain the woman said she has lived with since.

Mrs. Wade also declined to award the woman's husband of 32 years -- a former FBI agent -- for loss of his wife's company and affection he claimed he suffered as a result of the accident.

Mrs. Patricia Welsh of New York had testified earlier this year she was forced to undergo back surgery as a result of the fall and could no longer do housework or play sports with her eight children. Her social and sex life has also been hampered, she said.

The fall occurred at about 9.a.m. on November 5, 1985 when Mrs. Welsh was walking down the path connecting her room to the main hotel.

She said she slipped on wet grass cuttings strewn across the path, which slanted downhill, spraining her ankle and hurting her back.

Mrs. Welsh said her back and ankle hurt for the rest of her holiday here.

But the defendant's lawyer, Mr. Jai Pachai, denied there were any grass clippings in the pathway and submitted Mrs. Welsh slipped as a result of her own negligence.

Grotto Bay Hotel resident manager Mr. Alan Lugo testified gardeners are instructed to sweep away any grass which gets on a pathway during cutting. He added that as a rule, gardeners do not cut the grass near lodges in the early morning so as not to inconvenience guests.

He agreed if any grass clippings were on the pathway it would be a breach of the system.

Mr. Kieron Unwin, representing Mrs. Welsh, said she had endured a year of pain from the sprained ankle she suffered in the fall and was unable to work during that time.

Mr. Unwin further claimed that apart from the sprained ankle, Mrs. Welsh suffered back problems as a result of the fall, eventually forcing her to undergo two operations.

He claimed the fall had aggravated a pre-existing condition of degenerative disc disease.

Despite the operations, Mrs. Welsh suffers back pain to this day, he said.

Mr. Bernard Welsh testified the back pain his wife endures has caused her to be short-tempered at times. And he said she cannot do housework, play volleyball as she used to with their children or go out as much. He added their sex life had also gone downhill.

Mr. Pachai produced evidence from a local doctor that the back surgery Mrs.

Welsh eventually had to undergo was most likely the result of the "natural progression of her degenerative disc disease'' -- and not the fall.

In her judgment delivered yesterday, Mrs. Justice Wade said she accepted the doctor's evidence.

Rejecting the defendant's claim there were no clippings on the path, she found Mrs. Welsh's injuries were caused by "the defendant's breach of its statutory duty of care owed her under the Occupiers' and Highway Authorities Liability Act 1978''.

"The gardener created an unusual danger in leaving wet grass clippings on the pathway and ought to have known the danger,'' she said.

Mrs. Justice Wade awarded Mrs. Welsh $1,548 for loss of earnings, $1,252 for medical expenses, and $4,000 for general damages for pain and suffering and loss of amenities. She denied Mr. Bernard Welsh's claim for loss of consortium.

She further ordered Waterways Ltd. to pay all of Mrs. Welsh's legal costs.