A Co Cork quantity surveyor has lost a €20,000 claim for professional fees against Kenneth Best (36), a ward of court, who was severely brain damaged as a baby by a whooping cough vaccine.
Mr Best, who was mentally "irreversibly frozen" at an age of between six to 18 months, and is now cared for by his mother, Margaret, and special needs carers at Douglas, Co Cork, settled a damages claim against Wellcome Ireland Ltd in 1993 for €3,492,500.
Quantity surveyor Con Smith, of The Laurels, Monentotte Road, Cork, who prepared special accommodation costings for Mr Best's High Court claim in the early 1990s alleged in Dublin Circuit Court that he was still owed just over €20,000. He sued Mr Best through his mother and a "ward of court committee," Ms Best.
Judge Jacqueline Linnane, after rejecting Mr Smith's claim, ordered him to pay Mr Best's legal costs adding: "I see absolutely no reason to depart from the normal course of legal costs following the event, particularly in this case where the defendant was a ward of court."
Judge Linnane said she was satisfied he was aware that the fees paid were to have been those recovered on taxation on default of agreement.