Schoolboy receives €20,000 after his toe was fractured in school yard

A school, which offered a 15-year-old pupil €17,000 damages for a foot injury he sustained after being told by a teacher to move heavy cones in the playground, was told by a judge it wasn’t enough and to think again.

Judge John O'Connor said in the Circuit Civil Court that adequate compensation from Our Lady of Good Counsel Boys' National School could be as high as €25,000 for schoolboy Joe Bennett, of Churchview Road, Killiney, Co Dublin.

The judge granted the boy’s barrister, Muireann Grogan, time to contact the school board and its legal team and inform them of the court’s view before the €17,000 settlement offer would be rejected and the case go to trial.

Ms Grogan, who appeared with Donal P Quinn Solicitors, later told Judge O’Connor the school had increased its offer to €20,000 and she recommended it be approved.

Judge O’Connor had heard that in early February 2018 a teacher had instructed the then 12-year-old boy and another pupil to move cones that separated a play area for girls from the boys’ play area.

Ms Grogan said the boy had lost his grasp on one of the heavy wet cones which had fallen on the big toe of his left foot.

“Liability has not been conceded but we have the view of forensic engineer Karl Searson that the cone had been modified with the attachment to its base of a metal plate making it unsuitable for being moved by children,” Ms Grogan said.

She said the boy had struggled through classes for the remainder of the school day before returning to his nearby home and his father, Tom Bennett, through whom he had sued the Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin school board of management.

The accident had occurred on a Friday and the boy, due to increasing pain, had been taken to the emergency department of Tallaght hospital where it was found his big toe had been fractured. He had to undergo a puncturing of the nail and draining of blood and fluid from behind the nail.

He had been mobilised on crutches for several days and subsequently attended the hospital on several occasions for review and redressing.

Judge O’Connor said the boy had suffered a great deal of pain and the injury had significantly affected his social and sporting activities.