Judged refuses €36,000 settlement offer to injured boy (4)

A Circuit Civil Court judge has refused a €36,000 settlement offer to a four-year-old schoolboy who was injured in an accident in his grandmother’s courtyard.

Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said the scar on Reece O'Reilly's chin was permanent and quite visible. The judge said he feared the figure would not be enough to compensate the child.

Barrister Ivan Daly had told the court Reece was two and a half years old in 2012 when he fell. He had been playing on a scooter when he fell and lacerated his chin on the sharp edge of an unprotected shore in a walkway.

Reece had been taken to the emergency department of Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street in Dublin, where his cut was cleansed and sutured.

Mr Daly said the wound had left a permanent one centimetre scar on the midline of Reece’s chin.

Through his father Graham Keenan, Reece, of Cairn Court, Poppintree, Dublin, sued Dublin City Council, the owner of his grandmother's house.

Mr Daly said liability was not an issue in the case and a €36,000 offer had been made by the local authority, following an assessment by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.

Judge Groarke, refusing the offer, said the scar was still quite visible at the present time.

The matter was adjourned and damages will now have to be assessed by another Circuit Court judge.