Schoolgirl awarded €40,000 damages after dislocating her knee on cinema cup holder
An eight-year-old schoolgirl, who dislocated a knee when she fell in a Dun Laoghaire cinema, has been awarded €40,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court for personal injuries.
Barrister Siobhan Gaffney told the court that Tori McDermott Ellis had tripped on an uneven floor surface in the IMC Cinema at the Bloomfield Shopping Centre, Dun Laoghaire, on October 2 2016.
Ms Gaffney, who appeared with Murphys Solicitors, said Tori, who is now aged 12, had struck her left knee against a cup holder on a cinema seat and was unable to get up afterwards.
She said Tori had been taken by ambulance to Crumlin Children’s Hospital where an X-ray revealed her left kneecap had been dislocated. The kneecap had been re-located during surgery under sedation.
Ms Gaffney told Judge Francis Comerford that Tori’s left leg had been placed in a cast for several weeks and she had missed school for some of that time. She had undergone a series of physiotherapy treatments.
Counsel said Tori, whose home is in Parc Na Silla Lane, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, had recovered well and she pointed out to the court that the Injuries Board Book of Quantum valued such an injury between €28,000 and €56,000.
Ms Gaffney said that while liability had not been formally admitted the €40,000 settlement had been agreed in talks prior to today’s court application.
Tori, through her mother Mellissa Ellis, had sued Irish Multiplex Cinemas Limited, Dunlaoghaire, and Judge Comerford approved the settlement together with costs.