Dispute on £130,000 solicitors' bill in medical case settled

A YOUNG woman who was awarded damages of almost £600,000 in January for the misdiagnosis of a growth condition in her leg, yesterday resolved a High Court dispute with her former solicitors over a £130,000 bill she received from them.

Ms Eilis Cody (18), of Nore mount, Kilkenny, received the bill from Bruce St John Blake & Co of Serpentine Court, Ballsbridge, Dublin.

The bill included £57,000 plus VAT for the solicitors themselves in addition to fees for a second senior counsel and also a number of witness fees.

The solicitors had already secured costs of £88,000 plus VAT from the defendants in the action.

In an action before Mr Justice Geoghegan, it was claimed the solicitors had a valid, fair and reasonable agreement, contained in a number of documents, with Ms Cody for the payment of £130,000 in solicitor and client costs.

This was disputed by Ms Cody and her father Joseph who argued they had never consented to the level of deductions sought from the award. They argued there was no valid agreement with the solicitors and, if there was, it was manifestly neither fair nor reasonable.

After talks between the parties yesterday, Mr Paul Walsh SC, for Bruce St John Blake & Co, told the judge the matter had been settled and asked the judge to receive and file the settlement.

Mr Justice Geoghegan said it was a case that was "singularly suitable to be settled" and said he was pleased this had happened. The dispute over payment arose after Ms Cody was awarded £580,975 damages by Mr Justice McCracken in the High Court in January. Ms Cody had sued a surgeon, Mr Michael J. Hurley, who practises at St Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny, and an orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Michael O'Riordan, who practises at Kilcreen Orthopaedic Hospital, Co Kilkenny, for damages arising out of the misdiagnosis of a growth condition in her leg. Liability was admitted and the case proceeded as an assessment of damages only.

Mr Justice McCracken found the misdiagnosis meant Ms Cody had effectively lost her childhood and had to endure "appalling pain and suffering". While it was probable she would be able to lead an independent although limited life in the future, the judge said she would always have a limp and be restricted in her activities. Two months after complaining of pains in her left knee, Ms Cody was eventually correctly diagnosed in February 1992 as having a slipped left upper femoral epiphysis - a growth-related condition in boys and girls aged between 10 and 15.

Mr Justice McCracken said he was satisfied that if the condition had been properly diagnosed originally, while she undoubtedly would have had to undergo an operation and probably some months of disability, she would probably afterwards have had a normal childhood and teenage years.

In the event, she endured 20 admissions to hospital and lengthy periods in casts and would probably have to undergo more operations.