Girl, 10, to receive €32,500 in damages following 'bad ol’ day at the bouncy castle'

A TEN-year-old girl is in line for court-approved compensation of €32,500 after what a judge described as "a bad ol’ day at the bouncy castle”.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford made the comment after getting a close-up view of the residual scarring to Ayat Farhan from the two surgeries she underwent after a fall off the bouncy castle.

The incident, which has resulted in the legal proceedings being initiated, occurred on the grounds of St Conaire’s National School in Shannon, County Clare five years ago.

After being accompanied by her father, Farhad Jabed to the judge's bench, Judge Comerford re-assured Ayat when he told her: "I wouldn’t notice the scars if I met you. I wouldn’t worry about it myself.”

Judge Comerford told Ayat: "It was a bad ol' day at the bouncy castle and how are you now?”

Judge Comerford said that he is “generally positive” to the recommendation of a pay-out of €32,500 to Ayat but noted that  one more medical report is required on the question as to whether she may require a further surgical correction to her arm that was injured.

He said he would not make a final decision until that report is completed.

In the case, Ayat Farhan from Shannon and through her father, Farhad Jabed, is suing the Board Of Management of St Conaire's National School, Shannon, Fittest Superstars Ltd And Alan's Bouncy Castles Ltd for personal injury damages.

Counsel for Ayat, Elaine Power BL, told Judge Comerford that she was recommending an offer of €32,500, "from the other side", to the court.

Ms Power said that as a result of the fall, Ayat sustained a fracture to her distal humerus - or a broken elbow - from the fall.

She said that after the bouncy castle accident, Ayat was admitted to hospital where she first required a procedure to use wiring to stabilise the fracture.

Ms Power said the school girl "remained in a cast and sling for six to eight weeks and then she had to undergo a second procedure to remove the wiring from her elbow under general anaesthetic".

She added: "Thereafter she was very stiff in the elbow for two weeks and was restricted in her activities. Thankfully, she made a very good functional recovery."

Ms Power said the fall occurred during the school holidays and Ayat "didn’t miss any school and she was not restricted in her sporting activities”.

Judge Comerford was told that coming up this Monday's hearing, the only restriction for Ayat is she is when hanging off monkey bars as she will feel a pain in the elbow after about five seconds.

Ms Power said there are scars on the inside and outside of elbow and a medic has deemed them to be "a very minor cosmetic deformity”.

Ms Power said liability is an issue in the case and that is why she is recommending the “reasonable offer” of €32,500.

The barrister added that if liability wasn’t an issue and as the injury is in the upper moderate range, she said that €40,000 would be reasonable.

Outlining the background to the injury, Ms Power said her client’s case is that she was caused to fall onto a hard concrete and tarmacadam surface adjacent to the bouncy castle on June 22, 2019 at the school premises.

Ms Power said that "the case is pleaded on the basis of negligence through the way the bouncy castle was set up so as to permit a child to fall from it onto a hard surface”.

She also claimed that there was a failure by the defendants to adequately supervise the bouncy castle and a failure to prevent footwear that was taken off by children at the entrance to the bouncy castle accumulating around the base of the bouncy castle.

On the dispute around liability, Ms Power said that "there is a difference between the parties as to where the bouncy castle was placed on the day in question”. 

She said that her client’s case is that the bouncy castle was quite close to the hard surface while the defendant says it was further away, quite closer to a fence on a grass area.

Ms Power said that her client’s difficulty in proving liability is two-fold.  

"Because of photos taken on the day of the accident and based on certain engineering inspection that it is difficult to see how a child of her size could have fallen a sufficient distance from the bouncy castle to land on a hard surface - that is the major issue between the two parties.” 

Ms Power said that her client has been put on full proof of her claim and her own engineer has averted to the difficulty in her own case.

Judge Comerford adjourned the case to January for the medical report to be provided for court.

Any payout will be held in trust for Ayat Farhan until she turns 18.