By Ciaran Vale
The Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of a damages claim against Marks and Spencer after a young girl suffered severe burns when her cotton dress caught fire at her home in Navan.
Rebecca Cassells was five when the incident happened on May 24th, 1995. Her mother had bought the dress from the retailer's Brixton store in London the previous year.
After arriving home, Rebecca complained of being cold. Her mother lit an open fire in the living room and briefly went upstairs. There was no fireguard. The High Court found that Rebecca probably went close to the fire to warm herself while watching television and that the hem of her flared cotton skirt caught alight.
Her mother heard her scream and returned within minutes, finding Rebecca in the kitchen with the back of her dress burning. She extinguished the flames in the sink. Rebecca suffered extensive burns to her leg, buttock, back, armpit and upper arm.
The dress was made from 100% cotton and had not been chemically treated with fire retardant. It carried a permanent label stating "KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE" in red lettering and several languages. The High Court also accepted that it probably carried a removable cardboard tag advising parents to keep children away from fire.
Rebecca's appeal did not challenge the finding that Marks and Spencer was entitled to sell the dress without fire-retardant treatment. Instead, her lawyers argued that the warning was inadequate because it did not explain that the cotton could burn rapidly.
Mrs Justice McGuinness rejected that argument. She noted that no Irish or British regulations required children's daywear to meet a particular flammability standard or carry a fire warning, while Marks and Spencer had voluntarily adopted both testing standards and warning labels.
The court held that "KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE" clearly communicated that the garment was flammable and should not be exposed to an unprotected fire. It dismissed the appeal and upheld the High Court's finding that Marks and Spencer had not been negligent.