Girl awarded €10,000 for trauma suffered when bike fell near her

subway

http://breakingnews.ie/ireland/girl-awarded-10000-for-trauma-suffered-when-bike-fell-near-her-488904.html

read the article, i think its pure nonsense. i'm sure the girl got an awful fright but 10k damages

Jesus Wept

Can't believe my parents didn't sue when I was a kid :-/

A two-year-old girl who suffered post traumatic stress after a bicycle crashed to the ground in front of her in a toy shop has been awarded €10,000 damages.

Barrister David Staunton told the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that little Katie Campbell had narrowly escaped physical injury when the bike fell directly in her path from a shelf 14 feet above her head.

He said Katie, now aged almost six, had been with her father John Campbell, Foxbrook, Ratoath, Co Meath, in October 2007, browsing in Smyths Toys shop in the Airside Retail Park, Swords, Co Dublin, when the incident happened.

Mr Staunton told Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Matthew Deery, that the bicycle had not struck Katie but she had afterwards shown signs of anxiety and had suffered nightmares.

He told the court her GP had referred her to consultant child psychologist Mr Andrew Conway.

Mr Conway, on the basis of symptoms including hypersensitivity to noise such as thunder storms, fire crackers, cars backfiring, and an unwillingness to engage with other children, diagnosed her as having suffered a post traumatic reaction of a moderate type.

Mr Staunton said Mr Conway had concluded that as a result of the incident in the toy shop, Katie had suffered regression in her emotional, social and behavioural progression.

Mr Campbell, a social worker, was unable to attend court with his daughter today.

Judge Deery approved a €10,000 settlement offer by Smyths Toys Ltd and costs

SomeFool

That's just sad really, there should be some way of stoping this moneygrabbing claiming nonsence!

Penn

She should have been wearing a helmet

TechnoPool

id gladly let the bike fall on me for half that

tommy21

Is this for wheel?!

curlzy

That's just depressing, we're turning in the USA

Ruu_Old

I blame the parent.

Jesus Wept

SomeFool wrote: »

.

http://www.crossfitvallejo.com/.a/6a00e54ee3afea8833013110088cad970c-800wi

DoesNotCompute

I wonder if they claimed tax relief on the psychologists fees, GP visit fees, medical expenses, etc?

Also how much of the 10K went straight into the barristers pocket?

Interceptor

No luck can come with money gained in this way. I blame the parents and hope that it rains all the time they are in Disneyland.

'cptr

Duggy747

Fùck, I should've been a millionare by now with all the crap that happened to me when I was little, I don't even remember most of the events :pac:

So what, anytime she sees a bike she'll freeze, stare into the distance and have Vietnam-esque flashbacks? :pac:

fedor.2.

We are going to end up with a nation of wimps

stovelid

Fucking ghouls.

Exploiting their children for easy money: no other description for it.

egan2020

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

Also how much of the 10K went straight into the barristers pocket?

None of it - the offer was plus costs. So the whole thing probably cost Smyths/their insurance company about 35,000 by the time they pay the compensation, the girl's solicitors and their own solicitors.

hardCopy

That's ridiculous.

At the same time, the shop deserve some kind of rap on the knuckles if they're stacking stuff dangerously 14ft high where there are children around.

AnonoBoy

I wish my folks had been smart enough to retroactively blame any nightmares I had as a kid to that time I was 7 and on the way to school on the back of my brother's bike when some idiot opened a door right in our path and knocked us both off on to the road.

Ching! Ching!

prinz

My uncle reversed over my tricycle then laughed when he brought it into the house flat as a pancake. I've been hypersensitive to pancakes and all forms of naan breads since. Makes sense. €10,000 please.

Sanjuro

Ruu wrote: »

I blame the parent.

How about blaming the dipshit judge who, instead of flinging the parent, barrister and case out of the court, awarded these lecherous pricks €10,000? Don't blame the chancer. Blame the idiot who enabled them.

Also-

Mr Conway, on the basis of symptoms including hypersensitivity to noise such as thunder storms, fire crackers, cars backfiring, and an unwillingness to engage with other children, diagnosed her as having suffered a post traumatic reaction of a moderate type.

So what now? Sue science for allowing thunder to exist?

arybvtcw0eolkf

I was only 12 when Sandra Cumiskey dropped her knickers in front of me in Balcurris field. I've suffered premature ejeculations since..

OisinT, I ask you - HOW MUCH?.

MagicSean

Another genius scam. Almost as good as suing the NHS for being too fat with the added bonus of not being too fat.

tommyhaas

hardCopy wrote: »

That's ridiculous.

At the same time, the shop deserve some kind of rap on the knuckles if they're stacking stuff dangerously 14ft high where there are children around.

You'd wonder how some of these shelf stackers ever got their qualifications

Kimono-Girl

Mr Conway, on the basis of symptoms including hypersensitivity to noise such as thunder storms, fire crackers, cars backfiring, and an unwillingness to engage with other children, diagnosed her as having suffered a post traumatic reaction of a moderate type.

seriously? my daughter is almost 2 and she has hypersensitivity to noise such as thunderstorms, i don't allow her play with firecrackers, i haven't heard a car back fire in years, (she does hate the hoover noise though) and if you bring her to a play park she won't leave her daddies side to play with other children, and she didn't have a bike 'almost' fall on her,


but seriously any parent that would exploit their child like this for cash is beyond despicable in my opinion.

The Joc

i blame the judges as well for giving out that kind of money wounldnt 500 have done them incompo its judges giving out compensation like that is driving insurance through the roof,most children are afraid of thunder and that sort of thing anyway and i often get afright myself when acar backfires

mikemac

A shop that stacks bikes 14ft up and in such a way that they fall needs a visit from the Health & Safety Authority

MrPoker

This is fairly mild compared to the guy who got E10 million for sleepwalking.:rolleyes:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=69100545

goose2005

How can they pedal such nonsense, this chain of events really grinds my gears. I've spoke on this before and it wheelie is not on.

NothingMan

When I was 8 or 9 I got knocked down. I was wearing a snorkle hood all the way up and I walked out onto a road between 2 cars. The poor woman wasn't driving fast and all I ended up with was a sore head.

What did my Dad do? Told the poor woman to calm down it was my own stupid fault, gave her a cup of tea to help her relax and eventually brought me for an X-Ray, probably just to make sure it was ok to slap me upside the head for being such an idiot and traumatising the poor woman.

Nowadays..... Cha Ching!!!

Sykk

I blame Cowen... He should have saw it coming..

Kimono-Girl

feelingstressed wrote: »

A shop that stacks bikes 14ft up and in such a way that they fall needs a visit from the Health & Safety Authority

have you seen how smyths stack their bikes?

im in there regularly (2 year old) and to be fair to the staff the only way i could see this happening is if a staff member forgot to chain up the bike,


loose bikes/buggies all have a chain running through them that stops them from moving, usually only the boxes are up high, last year though i noticed bikes on higher shelves but they were all secured behind barriers and chained to each other, this is their cork (warehouse type) store so i im not sure if it would be the same in dublin, i would assume it is.

Riddle101

Sykk wrote: »

I blame Cowen... He should have saw it coming..

This is typical, of the failed policies of the Fianna Fail government

dilallio

Not the judges fault.
He only approved the OFFER from Smyths.
I wonder how many child psychiatrists the family contacted before they got this guy.

DrumSteve

yeah thats right €10000 will make the kid feel better

irishgeo

and then we wonder why the cost of insurance in ireland is so high and therefore the cost of doing business.

DarkJager

Ridiculous amount for what was essentially a non event. If the bike had fallen on her instead of near her the compo would be deserved, but Post traumatic stress?? What a load of bull****. The youth of today are too wrapped in cotton wool for their own good. For all the trees I fell out of, bikes I fell off and cuts I got as a kid it never had any impact on me apart from needing a plaster or 2.

We've got a generation of absolute wimps following us up.

kraggy

tommy21 wrote: »

Is this for wheel?!

Yeah it is unfortunately. There's been a chain reaction of claims happening recently.

Disgraceful.

trackcar

I was in Smyth's Dundalk one morning a month before christmas getting some santa stuff for the wee lad, I was lifing a box from a shelf when the shelf above me decided to collapse and landed on the floor, in seconds there was about 5 staff around me checking to see if I was OK.

Overheal

k_mac wrote: »

Another genius scam. Almost as good as suing the NHS for being too fat with the added bonus of not being too fat.

How do you presume to get a 2-year old to Fake PTSD?

Not being the 2-year old in the situation but having a bike fall from 14 feet (toddler trans: a hundred feet) above my head, come crashing down to LVT right in front of me, I'd be pretty terrified of things too. Like kids that develop any fear of things like Dogs or Heights if they've been nipped/barked at or fallen off something.

Otherwise normal occurrence in a kids life except in this case it was a business that stored this bike up there (not surprising to me: Walmart regularly has bikes stored up that height) That fell down, could have killed or seriously injured the kid, etc.

I would agree it sounds like a serious kneejerk lawsuit, but it's not like they sued them the day after: It's 4 years later and if the child is still suffering from PTSD you can't call this a "phase". As for the money, I assume it takes money to see PTSD specialists. And as pointed out, Smyths offered the sum.

I can think of more traumatic events like having the front of my bike run over while i was on it, but aside from being shaken I was old enough (15) to not be traumatized by it. I still ride bikes and aren't suffering PTSD or anything. I just got him to pay for the repairs the eejit. But not having PTSD I couldn't say how serious the disorder is, nor in the case of a toddler.

28064212

dilallio wrote: »

Not the judges fault.
He only approved the OFFER from Smyths.

^ This. Essentially, the family kicked up a fuss, and Smyths said "here, have this big bag of money and **** off"

CrinkElite

Maybe the 10k hit will be enough to remind them that this could have been alot more serious.
If the bike had landed on her they would have had a much larger problem on their hands.
I know it's disheartening to see money grabbers trying to profit from the slightest offenses of struggling businesses. We all know someone who's had multiple falls in every shop in their locality but in all fairness 10k is not a huge amount of money and it may be enough to get the store owners to revise their policies on health and safety.
lucky escape for them if you want my opinion.

reverenddave

[

DarkJager wrote: »

Ridiculous amount for what was essentially a non event. If the bike had fallen on her instead of near her the compo would be deserved, but Post traumatic stress?? What a load of bull****. The youth of today are too wrapped in cotton wool for their own good. For all the trees I fell out of, bikes I fell off and cuts I got as a kid it never had any impact on me apart from needing a plaster or 2.

We've got a generation of absolute wimps following us up.

http://www.mileanhour.com/files/2010/9/The-90s.jpg

Overheal

reverenddave wrote: »

http://www.mileanhour.com/files/2010/9/The-90s.jpg

No.... I just couldn't get a hold of a giant rocket on wheels. Duh.

Fizman

curlzy wrote: »

That's just depressing, we're turning in the USA

What part of the USA are you in? And why are you turning?

Stay on topic please. This is about a girl and a bike and money.

hardCopy

dilallio wrote: »

Not the judges fault.
He only approved the OFFER from Smyths.
I wonder how many child psychiatrists the family contacted before they got this guy.

Daddy's a social worker, he probably knew a clatter of them

@Overheal

While I understand that Smyths were in the wrong for haphazardly stocking the bike, €10,000 is a bit much, especially taken into account that the child wasn't harmed. Post-traumatic stress? That sounds a bit ridiculous for a 6 year old.

@Overheal - I understand how a child being bitten by a child can lead to said child being afraid of dogs, so does a bike landing in front of a child lead them to being afraid of bikes? Smyths? Gravity?

KungPao

I'm familiar with the Smyths shops and if it fell from 14 feet it was a small bike (12-16inches maybe) in a box.

The only reason the bikes (in boxes) are on the shop floor at all is because a few years back they introduced the money making scheme of offering the bike in a box (at the shown price) or assembled for €10 extra. Whereas before all the bikes were assembled (at no extra cost) and so were all in the stock room.

Overheal

Deleted User wrote: »

While I understand that Smyths were in the wrong for haphazardly stocking the bike, €10,000 is a bit much, especially taken into account that the child wasn't harmed. Post-traumatic stress? That sounds a bit ridiculous for a 6 year old.

Smyth's offered the settlement amount. The parent's didn't specify 10k.

@Overheal - I understand how a child being bitten by a child can lead to said child being afraid of dogs,

? :P ?

so does a bike landing in front of a child lead them to being afraid of bikes? Smyths? Gravity?

You would have to ask a child psychologist and be intimate with the incident. Was the girl running around the store when the incident happened, does the child feel that by wandering off on her own she brought it on herself? When she hear's sudden loud noises is she afraid something is about to crush her? I can't answer that. I can't rule out the possibility that her parents are hyper-inflating the issue either, mind. But I'm taking the story at face value since it's far too easy to join the rabble-wagon and say they're money-grubbing leeches america rabble etc.

Overheal

Overheal wrote: »

Smyth's offered the settlement amount. The parent's didn't specify 10k.


? :P ?


You would have to ask a child psychologist and be intimate with the incident. Was the girl running around the store when the incident happened, does the child feel that by wandering off on her own she brought it on herself? When she hear's sudden loud noises is she afraid something is about to crush her? I can't answer that.

Damn. I meant child being bitten by a dog. But damn those child-biting children.

I didn't realize that it was Smyths that chose the figure.

Crasp

Duggy747 wrote: »

Fùck, I should've been a millionare by now with all the crap that happened to me when I was little, I don't even remember most of the events :pac:

So what, anytime she sees a bike she'll freeze, stare into the distance and have Vietnam-esque flashbacks? :pac:

Johnny?! JOHNNY?! JONAAAAAAAY!!!!

kelle

I was in Smyth's in Blanchardstown a few years ago when a huge Lego box fell to the floor a few feet away from me, while my daughter was a newborn asleep in the pram! It frightened the life out of me that it could have fallen on her had I been a few steps forward, and I let them know that they should have these boxes secured when they're up at such a height.

No, i didn't sue!

Overheal

kelle wrote: »

I was in Smyth's in Blanchardstown a few years ago when a huge Lego box fell to the floor a few feet away from me, while my daughter was a newborn asleep in the pram! It frightened the life out of me that it could have fallen on her had I been a few steps forward, and I let them know that they should have these boxes secured when they're up at such a height.

No, i didn't sue!

But did you suffer PTSD as a result of the incident? As diagnosed by a specialist?