€70k settlement for girl who fell in alleged potholed laneway
A girl who chipped her teeth and suffered cuts to her face when she fell in an alleged potholed and "patched" laneway near her home has settled her High Court action for €70,000.
Kristen Liddy had sued Longford County Council as a result of the accident near her home in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford on May 10,2010.
The child, who was seven at the time, was crossing a laneway between her home at Devine Crescent and the fire station in Edgeworthstown.
It was claimed Ms Liddy tripped and fell forward onto her face, chipping her front teeth and suffering cuts to her right check, right upper eyebrow and left knee.
She later had the affected teeth capped and has been left with some minor scarring.
Through her father Frank, Ms Liddy, now aged 16, of Devine Crescent, Edgeworthstown, sued the Council as a result of the accident.
Today, her counsel applied to Mr Justice Garrett Simons to approve a €70,000 offer by the Council to settle the case.
The €70,000 comprised €64,112 in general damages with the rest for special damages and was very close to the full value of the case, he said.
Reports provided to the judge, who inspected Ms Liddy’s facial injuries, indicated that scars to her right cheek and forehead had healed well.
While the scars are permanent, a plastic surgeon expressed the view they are minor and presented, at most, a cosmetic blemish rather than a cosmetic deformity.
Describing the €70,000 offer as “generous” and close to the full value of the case, the judge said he was satisfied to approve it.
This was effectively a trip and fall case and all such cases carried risk, he said.
