award agreed Boy (9) whose broken arm was treated with frozen meat is awarded €34k in compensation

A CHILD who broke his arm in a summer camp and only had ‘frozen meat’ applied in first-aid treatment has received almost €34,000 compensation.

The High Court has heard how Erwan Rafferty Louis, aged nine at the time, had been playing a game of rounders at a golf summer camp in Castleknock Golf Club when he fell.

His games supervisor, who had been running close to him, had fallen on top of the boy.

Judge John O’Connor heard that Erwan, of Luttrellstown Drive, Castleknock, Dublin 15, broke bones in his left arm in the accident. The only treatment he received at the scene was the application of a piece of frozen meat to his arm.

Barrister Gareth Kinsella, who appeared with Williams Solicitors for Erwan and his mother Aisling Louis, told the court that Erwan had not received any further medical treatment until his mother called to the club and took him to hospital.

X-rays from the accident-and-emergency department of Temple Street Children’s Hospital revealed the boy had fractures to both bones in his left forearm, but the swelling had been such that surgery had to be postponed for a week.

His arm was put in a cast and sling and he returned to the hospital a week later to undergo correctional K-wire surgery.

Through his mother, Erwan, now 14, sued Castleknock Golf Club as well as Dublin-based companies BRBM Golf and Leisure; Cglf Limited and Glenveagh Properties Plc.

Mr Kinsella said the Injuries Board had assessed compensation at €32,000 and a settlement on behalf of all defendants had been made to the boy, along with almost €1,600 in special damages.

In a legal opinion to the court, Mr Kinsella said that while he considered the behaviour of the course supervisors to have been egregiously inappropriate and inadequate after the accident, he considered the settlement a good one.

Judge O’Connor, who heard there had been no post-accident abnormalities arising from Erwan’s injuries, approved the assessment and settlement offer.

Judge O’Connor, who said the first-aid treatment was egregiously inappropriate and inadequate, approved a compensation offer of almost €34,000 to the boy on behalf of the four defendants.

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Online Editors