A judge has approved a €20,000 damages settlement to a 12-year-old schoolboy who suffered scald wounds to his right upper thigh during a Ryanair holiday flight.
Barrister David Richardson, who appeared with Stepaside, Dublin, solicitors Flanagan and Company, told the Circuit Civil Court that hot chocolate had been spilled on Reece Kelly’s leg during a Ryanair flight to Marbella, Spain.
“Reece, who is now 15, was wearing shorts at the time and took the full brunt of the hot spillage,” Mr Richardson told Judge John O’Connor.
He said Reece’s mother, Lynne Kelly, of Sheelin Hill, Ballybrack, Co Dublin, had not felt that the First Aid kit used to treat her son’s burns during the flight was appropriate for the type of injury Reece had suffered.
However, a health care professional had made himself known to the family on board and had assisted Reece until the aircraft landed in Mallorca where he had been brought to the airport medical centre.
His burns had been covered with burn cream and dressed, and he had been given pain relief before being transferred to a medical clinic where it had been decided no further immediate intervention was necessary.
Mr Richardson told the court a carton of hot chocolate had been placed on Reece’s seat table by a flight attendant and when he lifted it to drink the lid had popped off and the contents had spilled on him.
Judge O’Connor said Reece had made a full recovery without permanent scarring and he approved the Ryanair settlement offer of €20,000 compensation and Circuit Court costs.
