One pupil who was the recipient of debilitating injuries after he was impaled in the eye with a paint brush has recently been victorious in ongoing school accident claim battle.
When he was just ten years old, Thomas Brown suffered a devastating personal injury claim in a freak accident whilst attending school. While his class was working on decorating stage scenery for a school showcase, young Thomas had been kneeling on the floor and engaged in the use of a long paint brush to color several pieces of paper. He was bumped into by a fellow student, which sent Thomas falling forward and impaling himself on another pupil’s paint brush.
Thomas, who was impaled in the eye by the paint brush, was caused even more serious injury when it lodged in his brain. Since that fateful day he has been without sight in one eye; he has also developed permanent disabilities such as problems with fatigue, memory, and concentration, which medical experts say are highly likely to be due to the damage to his brain from the paint brush. The injury has not only affected his childhood but also his quality of life, drastically limiting the pupil’s earning potential in the future.
Thomas’ school was recently found liable for the occurrence of the accident, says one court. While the school disputed the claim that there was a lack of both adequate assessment of risk prior to and class supervision at the time the accident occurred, the Judge made the conclusion that the risk of injury was foreseeable, and thus preventable, by several different methods involving the use of the paint brushes that were responsible for the injury.
Ultimately the court’s decision will lead to Thomas being able to receive personal injury compensation for his wound. Industry experts have no indication of how much the pupil will be awarded, but similar cases have seen awards as high as £2.5 million.