£300k damages for man hurt by falling gate... as an eight-year-old
Farmer’s anger over ‘ridiculous’ award
A MAN who suffered brain damage after a gate fell on him as he played on a farm as a child was awarded more than £300,000 yesterday.
Craig Anderson, 21, went to the Court of Session to seek compensation, saying the incident had affected his academic performance and deprived him of a professional career.
Yesterday, Lord Pentland ruled that farmer Antoinette Imrie must pay him £325,976 for injuries he sustained when he was eight years old.
An earlier hearing was told how Mr Anderson was playing at Hillhead Farm in Torrance, Dunbartonshire, with Ben, the son of Mrs Imrie and her husband John, on June 28, 2003, when he climbed on a gate that then fell on him.
Lawyers acting for Mr Anderson argued that Mrs Imrie did not do enough to guarantee his safety and that the incident had affected his career and ability to form and maintain relationships.
But speaking after yesterday’s judgment, which followed a court hearing in October, Mrs Imrie, 44, said: ‘I’m very upset that my name has been dragged through this. At the end of the day I pride myself on the way I have brought up my children and I took every precaution with that child.
‘The last few months have been a nightmare. Farming is hard enough without being in this situation.
‘It has got to the point where I can’t have children over to play any more – I’m too worried. It’s crazy that nowadays a person can do so much as slip and someone will be prosecuted for it.’
Mrs Imrie added: ‘If there was evidence that Craig had been badly affected then fair enough, but it gets to the point where it’s taking the mick.
‘It’s absolutely ridiculous and opens a can of worms for people to prosecute other small businesses for minor accidents.’
In the written judgment, Lord Pentland absolved Mr Imrie from any responsibility as there was no evidence that he had any knowledge of Mr Anderson being on the farm. The judge wrote: ‘I am satisfied that Mrs Imrie failed to ensure that the pursuer was subject to such supervision as was necessary to restrict the risk of injury to an acceptable level.
‘She failed in my opinion to take reasonable care to see he did not injure himself.’
At the earlier hearing, Mr Anderson, who lives in Perth and has his own gardening business, told the court he could not remember much about the accident. He said he and Ben had decided to herd some sheep through a gate, which then fell on him.
Following the accident, he was taken to Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital before being transferred to the city’s Yorkhill Hospital. Doctors there decided to trans-
‘This opens a can of worms for people’
‘She failed to take reasonable care’
fer him to the specialist head injuries unit at the Southern General in Glasgow, where he received care for three weeks.
The Imries, who were represented by Kay Springham, QC, claimed that they fulfilled all duties of reasonable care toward Mr Anderson.
The farmers said that 12 months after the accident, the boy was examined at the Institute of Neurological Sciences and was thought to have ‘done well’.
The Imries argued he did not seek medical help for headaches or any other condition said to have been caused by the incident and that he had problems with his academic performance before it occurred.