Five-year-old girl scarred for life awarded €75,000 damages in Circuit Civil Court

A five-year-old schoolgirl, who will be scarred for life after she struck her head against a table in a Dublin crèche was on Tuesday awarded €75,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.

Barrister Emmet Carty told the court that in April 2012 Madison Davis was about to place a cup on a table at The Little Children's Crèche in Tallaght, Dublin, when she tripped and fell, striking her forehead.

Mr Carty said little Madison, who was almost three at the time, suffered a deep laceration above her left eyebrow. She had been taken to the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght.

Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke heard the laceration was closed with steri-strips and the following day it was stitched under anaesthetic. The wound had left a visible permanent 2.5 centimetres-long scar over her left eye.

Through her mother Jennifer Quinn, she sued Fettercairn Community Childcare Ltd, which trades as The Little Children's Crèche, of St Anne's Primary School, Fettercairn, Tallaght, for negligence.

Madison, of The Drive, Millbrook Lawns, Tallaght, claimed she had been left to carry a cup and traverse the floor without adequate supervision and the Crèche had failed to protect her appropriately.

Mr Carty told Judge Groarke that a settlement offer of €50,000 had been made by the crèche but the Judge, hearing that Madison would be scarred for life and that cosmetic surgery would not improve the “nasty” scar, said it was very noticeable and he believed the figure should be increased by 50 per cent.

Following a brief adjournment, Mr Carty told the court that a new settlement offer of €75,000 had been made, which Judge Groarke approved.