Compensation culture

[Oneeyedvic]

A teenager left brain damaged after being kicked on a bouncy castle has won his damages claim against the parents who hired it for their triplets' party.

Sam Harris, now 13, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, suffered a broken skull when a 15-year-old boy kicked his head at the party in Strood, Kent, in 2005.

Mr Justice David Steel said Timothy and Catherine Perry, who hired the castle, had not provided enough supervision.

Damages, for which Mr and Mrs Perry are insured, are likely to exceed �1m.
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Sam was hurt when the much taller 15-year-old boy caught the left side of his head with his heel while somersaulting on the castle.

Counsel for Mr and Mrs Perry said Mr Harris should have ensured his son, who has Asperger syndrome, did not go anywhere near the inflatable.

The judge said he found it probable that Mrs Perry did give Sam permission to use the castle but that the level of supervision was inadequate.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/738977 5.stm

What would have happened if the aspergers sufferer was over 18 and didn't have a parent or guardian to supervise?

If this happens in civil court, does it set a precedent for the parents of (or if over 18 then the sufferer) be taken to criminal court and be charged?

[Kromovaracun]

Responsible people would ensure that if the saw a situation develop which could cause injury etc.

The situation started developing when the other kid launched into a somersault. What exactly could've been done then?
They could've discouraged somersaulting, but that's about it. I say the kid would ignore, but I'll respond to your critique of that later.

Take another example: When I was a kid, a girl who was at my house was riding a bike in our garden, lost control of it and hurtled straight into a barbed wire fence (as I recall, my parents were present at the time). There's nothing inherently dangerous about a kid riding a bike in the garden, but the loss of control happened so quickly there was really nothing that could be done.

are assuming that any child spoken to will ignore you and refuse to stop their actions

Not really. We just remember being kids. Granted, some will obey a harsh tone of voice but there's absolutely no guaranteed consistency in that method. Particularly not when you're dealing with someone else's child (the 'I'll tell your parents' line will only get you so far. If it gets you anywhere.)

The impression I get from some of these postings is that the family of Sam Harris are being a nuisance for daring to sue, but why should they suffer because of the incompetence of others?

What they're doing is pointing the finger at people who couldn't really have stopped it. I repeat - this kind of stuff happens all the time, and unfortunately this case just happens to have extremely serious consequences. Bear in mind I've said they should have been supervising, but that doesn't mean they're responsible.

[Oneeyedvic]

I'm sure when they arrived at the party with their son Sam they were given assurances by the Perry family - who would have been aware of his condition - "Don't worry, he'll be okay".

So you have an aspergers son, you go to a party. The hosts say "don't worry he'll be okay". As a parent do you think:

1) Oh great, they obviously know about aspergers and will take good care of him.

2) Yeah, thanks for the offer, but aspergers sufferers have issues with social interaction and it would be better if we stayed close by.

Also, the mother denies knowledge that she was told he was a sufferer.

If this was at a playschool or similar, anyone with a disability such as aspergers would have to have one on one supervision. The parents would know this but still left him supervised by just one adult.



Leaving all this aside, you are now saying that at a kids party, everyone needs to be supervised at all times. Since kids tend to run around this means that you would probably need around 3 or 4 adults for 10 kids. Obviously, they would have to have had lessons on how to control other people's children and be well versed as to what is and what isn't appropriate.

Risk assessments for every game should be done in advance eg if someone played football and a supervisor thought </> they were going in for a tackle, the game should immediately be stopped in case of injury. Also, if a shot was on target and going into the corner of a goal, the goalkeeper should be prevented from diving in case he were to hit his head on the post and cause brain damage.