A three year old girl had a severed finger tip claim settled for £16,700. The girl lost the tip of her fingertip in a nursery pushchair accident.
Roisin Longo was just two years of age when her fingertip was cut off in the hinge mechanism of her MacLaren Techno XT while she was attending Mellow Spring Childcare Development Centre in Finglas West.
Quick-acting staff at the crèche found the fingertip and packed it ice so that her mother, Ms Elaine Deans, could take Roisin to hospital and attempt to have the amputated fingertip sewn back on.
However, as Circuit Court President Mr Justice Matthew Deery heard, the best attempts of surgeons could not prevent the tissue dying and the fingertip eventually falling off.
After consulting with her legal representatives, Ms Deans discovered that revealed the pushchair model had been recalled in the United States, and repair kits issued to customers due to acknowledged problems with the hinge mechanism.
Though the pushchair had been manufactured in England, and complied with British and EU safety standards, Ms Deans filed a claim for product liability compensation against MacLaren Europe Limited, of Northampton, England.
Without accepting liability, MacLaren Europe Limited offered a settlement £16,700 – a settlement offer which Roisin’s mother was prepared to accept and which Mr Justice Matthew Deery had pleasure in approving.