11 year old awarded €20,000

C

Conan

Registered User
Messages
1,665
Today's paper has a story of an 11 year old boy being awarded €20k in the High Court for nervous shock after witnessing the aftermath of a bus crash. Through his mother, he sued the bus company.
Am I alone in thinking this is mad? A few years earlier he received €26k after being a passenger in a car that was rear-ended.
No wonder motor insurance is so expensive with decisions like this.
 
Conan said:
Today's paper has a story of an 11 year old boy being awarded €20k in the High Court for nervous shock after witnessing the aftermath of a bus crash. Through his mother, he sued the bus company.
Am I alone in thinking this is mad? A few years earlier he received €26k after being a passenger in a car that was rear-ended.
No wonder motor insurance is so expensive with decisions like this.
Click to expand...
The mother also received a large pay out for the trauma she suffered.
 
thedaddyman said:
in fairness, his sisters, her daughters were on the bus.
Click to expand...
Did they get a few bob as well?

My daughter got food poisoning a while back. She was better in a few days but should she look for a settlement? Should I get one for the mental anguish I suffered from smelling the stink in the bathroom after her?
 
Purple said:
Did they get a few bob as well?

My daughter got food poisoning a while back. She was better in a few days but should she look for a settlement? Should I get one for the mental anguish I suffered from smelling the stink in the bathroom after her?
Click to expand...
So depending on how she got the food poisoning, maybe yes.

and you can't compare a bit of puke in a bathroom with coming on a crash scene and thinking half of your family are dead in it and then seeing your sister being carried bleeding and unconscious from the wreck as happened here.

I'm not saying some claims are not ridiculous and OTT but actually, I think on this occassion, there may be a valid reason
 
thedaddyman said:
So depending on how she got the food poisoning, maybe yes.

and you can't compare a bit of puke in a bathroom with coming on a crash scene and thinking half of your family are dead in it and then seeing your sister being carried bleeding and unconscious from the wreck as happened here.

I'm not saying some claims are not ridiculous and OTT but actually, I think on this occassion, there may be a valid reason
Click to expand...
Why would you bring your child to the scene of an accident involving their sister?
 
Purple said:
Why would you bring your child to the scene of an accident involving their sister?
Click to expand...
In fairness, that thought crossed my mind but perhaps they had no choice, couldn't find a child minder or maybe they were in the car at the time when the call came in. I doubt very much the mother was thinking about money at that stage
 
thedaddyman said:
In fairness, that thought crossed my mind but perhaps they had no choice, couldn't find a child minder or maybe they were in the car at the time when the call came in. I doubt very much the mother was thinking about money at that stage
Click to expand...
So the child got €20k and the Mother has already got €50k for psychological injuries. I wonder what the injured children got? It must have been millions!
 
Purple said:
So the child got €20k and the Mother has already got €50k for psychological injuries. I wonder what the injured children got? It must have been millions!
Click to expand...
And why not, they were nearly killed in a crash that was not their fault. That's what insurance is there for
 
Is part of the purpose of some of these high awards to penalise defendants so that safety standards increase?
 
arbitron said:
Is part of the purpose of some of these high awards to penalise defendants so that safety standards increase?
Click to expand...
That would require a correlation between high awards and high safety standards. I've never heard anyone, or any vested interest, argue that such a demonstrable correlation exists.
 
thedaddyman said:
According to the court report, one of them was carried unconscious from the wreck and covered in blood.
Click to expand...
Where does it end though? If a child of mine and I are watching one of my other children playing sport and while participating the latter child is injured to the extent that they are carried off unconscious and covered in blood (Cycling, Rugby, Hurling, Motor sport, Horse racing, etc) should we be entitled to take the organisers or the sporting body in question to court to claim compensation for our trauma?
 
Purple said:
Where does it end though? If a child of mine and I are watching one of my other children playing sport and while participating the latter child is injured to the extent that they are carried off unconscious and covered in blood (Cycling, Rugby, Hurling, Motor sport, Horse racing, etc) should we be entitled to take the organisers or the sporting body in question to court to claim compensation for our trauma?
Click to expand...
Perhaps.

If potentially the sporting organisation was at fault by, for example, not having properly trained referees, by having fences designed that were not suitable for the horse and rider and their age and experience?

I do agree that a lot of this is both a grey area and an area that is open for exploitation. I do have issues in my own mind with a lot of insurance payments myself and I loved seeing the article in Saturday's Examiner where a case was thrown out and the claimant had costs awarded against them. However in this specific case, which kicked off this thread, I actually think there was potentially some merit to it.
 
thedaddyman said:
Perhaps.

If potentially the sporting organisation was at fault by, for example, not having properly trained referees, by having fences designed that were not suitable for the horse and rider and their age and experience?

I do agree that a lot of this is both a grey area and an area that is open for exploitation. I do have issues in my own mind with a lot of insurance payments myself and I loved seeing the article in Saturday's Examiner where a case was thrown out and the claimant had costs awarded against them. However in this specific case, which kicked off this thread, I actually think there was potentially some merit to it.
Click to expand...
I certainly think there was some merit in it. I have aa serious issue with the size of the payments.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top