An eight-year-old schoolgirl, who dislocated a knee when she fell in a Dún Laoghaire cinema, has been awarded €40,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court for personal injuries.
Barrister Siobhán Gaffney told the court that Tori McDermott Ellis had tripped on an uneven floor surface in the EMC Cinema at the Bloomfield Shopping Centre, Dún Laoghaire, on October 2nd, 2016.
Ms Gaffney, who appeared with Murphys Solicitors, said Tori, who is now aged 12, had struck her left knee against a cup holder on a cinema seat and was unable to get up afterwards.
She said Tori had been taken by ambulance to Crumlin children’s hospital where an X-ray revealed her left kneecap had been dislocated. The kneecap had been relocated during surgery under sedation.
Ms Gaffney told Judge Francis Comerford that Tori’s left leg had been placed in a cast for several weeks and she had missed school for some of that time. She had undergone a series of physiotherapy treatments.
Counsel said Tori, whose home is in Parc Na Silla Lane, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, had recovered well and she pointed out to the court that the Injuries Board Book of Quantum valued such an injury between €28,000 and €56,000.
Ms Gaffney said that while liability had not been formally admitted the €40,000 settlement had been agreed in talks prior to Wednesday’s court application.
Tori, through her mother Mellissa Ellis, had sued Irish Multiplex Cinemas Limited, Dún Laoghaire, and the judge approved the settlement together with costs.