A judge at the Circuit Civil Court has approved two settlements of claims for an emotional injury in a shopping centre in favour of two young girls.
In March 2013, eleven-year-old Abbie and eight-year-old Casie Kennedy were shopping with their mother – Claudia – at the Dundrum Shopping Centre. While in the changing room of the H&M store, the three shoppers heard a man swearing at the store´s staff, and ordering them to open the till before telling them to get down on the ground.
Not knowing that what they could hear was a mock armed robbery that had been staged as part of a training exercise, Claudia and her terrified daughters stayed in the store´s changing room until the noise stopped. Only then did Claudia open the changing room door; but, unable to see anything, she kept the girls in the changing room for several minutes more.
When she could hear voices in the store, Claudia escorted the girls back into the store and approached the manager to find out what had happened. Very angry about the trauma her two daughters had experienced, Claudia rang the H&M head office in England to complain that nobody had checked for the presence of customers before starting the training exercise.
Dissatisfied with the offer of a €30 voucher, Claudia sought legal advice and made claims for an emotional injury in a shopping centre on behalf of her daughters. In the claims against H&M Hennes &Mauritz (Ireland) Ltd, Claudia alleged that the sisters had been in fear for their and their mother’s lives and emotionally traumatised by the incident
H&M Hennes &Mauritz (Ireland) Ltd offered to settle the claims for an emotional injury in a shopping centre by paying compensation to Abbie (€10,000) and Casie (€8,000). At the Circuit Civil Court, Judge Rory MacCabe was told that the family was happy to accept the offers. After hearing that Abbie and Casie still suffered nightmares as a result of their experience, Judge MacCabe approved the settlements.