The €46,000 settlement of a young girl´s injury claim for falling from an unsafe window was approved yesterday by a judge at the Circuit Civil Court.
In August 2012, fifteen-month old Róisín Byrne was playing in her parent´s temporary one-bedroom flat when she fell out of the large Georgian sash window and fell eleven feet onto the emergency fire casing below. Róisín fracture a rib when she landed and punctured a lung.
Róisín´s parents – Ronan Byrne and Chloe Murphy – had previously complained to the caretaker of the flats in Blackrock, County Dublin, that the window was dangerous as it opened just twenty-one inches from the floor and lacked a security mechanism to lock it shut.
On Róisín´s behalf, her mother made an injury claim for falling from an unsafe window against the owner of the property – Enda Woods – alleging negligence. Chloe applied to the Injuries Board for an assessment of her claim, and the Injuries Board´s assessment of €46,000 was agreed by both parties.
As the injury claim for falling from an unsafe window was made on behalf of a child, the Injuries Board´s assessment had to be approved by a judge to ensure the settlement was in Róisín´s best interests. Consequently, the circumstances of Róisín´s accident were related to Mr Justice Raymond Groarke at the Circuit Civil Court.
At the approval hearing, Judge Groarke heard that Róisín is now five years of age and lives with her parents in Balbriggan. The judge was also told that Róisín had made a full recovery from her accident except from a scar on her forehead that remained from when she hit her head on landing.
After reviewing the circumstances of the case and the Injuries Board´s assessment, Judge Groarke approved the settlement of the injury claim for falling from an unsafe window. The settlement will now be paid into court funds where it will remain in an interest-bearing account until Róisín is eighteen years of age.