A judge has adjourned the case of a girl who sustained an injury to her eyebrow while travelling on Dublin bus so that further medical reports can be made.
A girl (who was twenty-two months old at the time of the incident) was travelling on a bus in Dublin with her mother in 2015 when the bus driver braked suddenly to avoid an unmarked garda car that had pulled out into a bus lane. Although strapped into her buggy, the girl hit her head on one of the poles in the bus.
The girl was taken to Temple Street Children´s Hospital by her mother to receive medical attention. The girl had sustained a cut on her foreheard, which was cleaned and sealed with seristrips. It is possible that the girl´s eyebrow hair will not develop normally as she gets older, and a very faint scar remains in the area.
As she was a minor at the time of the incident, her mother made a claim for compensation for an eyebrow injury on the girl’s behalf. The defendants-Dublin Bus and the Garda Commissioner-accepted liability for the injury, and a settlement of compensation amounting to €10,000 was offered to the family.
As the claim for compensation for an eyebrow injury had been made on behalf of a minor, the proposed settlement had to be approved by a judge to deem it fair before it could be finalised. The case was heard at the Circuit Civil Court last week, by Mr Justice Raymond Groarke. The judge was told the circumstances of the accident and the consequences of the injury.
Judge Groarke inspected the young girl´s eyebrow and said he could still see a visible scar. He commented that, as it was difficult to tell if the girl had made a complete recovery, he was reluctant to approve the settlement at this stage. He adjourned the approval hearing for six weeks in order that a medical report could be prepared on how the injury may interfere with the growth of the girl´s eyebrow hair in the future. The case is thus ongoing.
