Boy awarded €37,500 after hurting arm on door of school swimming pool

Alex Hayes Judge was racing to the pool at Templeogue College, Dublin when the accident happened as his arm hit the pool door and shattered the glass.

The settlement was without an admission of liability.

Alex, of Shelton Park, Kimmage, Dublin, through his mother Deborah Hayes Judge, sued the Spiritan Education Trust, a patron of Templeogue College, in the High Court as a result of the accident on December 13, 2019.

In an affidavit, Ms Hayes Judge said her son, who was 14 at the time, was with friends in the schoolyard when they decided to race to the swimming pool door. She said Alex’s left arm hit the pool door and shattered the glass.

Her son she said suffered a laceration to his left forearm and the base of his left thumb. The laceration to his forearm she said extended from the elbow to the wrist.

He was admitted to the hospital where, under general anaesthetic, the lacerations were cleaned and repaired.

Ms Hayes Judge said her son has been left with a 28 cm scar extending from his elbow to his wrist.

Mr Justice Garrett Simons noted liability was very much at issue in the case. He said the €37,500 represented a very generous settlement and he approved it.