The High Court has approved a €325,000 settlement for a minor in fatal injuries proceedings arising from her mother’s death in April 2012. The settlement is with the first named defendant hospital and includes costs. The court made no finding on whether either hospital was liable.
The claim alleged that the mother took a paracetamol overdose on 31 March 2012 and that hospital staff misinterpreted her blood test results. The plaintiff’s case was that, given her chronic alcohol dependency, she should have received high risk management, and that the alleged treatment failure led to her death. Both hospitals denied liability; the first named defendant had filed a full defence, and the case against the second named defendant is to be struck out.
The minor’s grandmother, who is her next friend, initially accepted senior counsel’s recommendation to approve the settlement but changed her position before the hearing on 17 February 2020. She told the court she considered the amount insufficient. She argued that the actuarial assessment undervalued the mother’s likely future earnings and the work of raising a child. The grandmother also raised concerns about the minor’s future security, given her own health and the family’s rented accommodation. She said she was not seeking damages for herself.
The actuarial report valued the minor’s dependency claim at €302,650: €92,650 for financial support based on social welfare payments and €210,000 for care and domestic assistance. Special damages were €12,553, and the solatium for mental distress was €25,400, bringing the stated total value to €340,603. The deceased’s relatives waived their shares of the solatium in favour of the minor.
Justice Garrett Simons said the assumptions in the actuarial report were open to challenge at trial. The mother’s health history could be used to question both her employment prospects and the care estimates, which assumed she would provide substantial weekly assistance despite the minor also being cared for by her grandmother. A trial could therefore produce an award below the settlement.
The judge concluded that €325,000 was close to the full value of the claim and unlikely to be bettered at trial. He approved the settlement but expressly made no finding on liability. The offer was made without an admission of liability.
Under the order, €12,553 is to be paid to the plaintiff’s solicitors to discharge special damages and fees, and the balance is to be paid into court for the minor. The plaintiff is also entitled to legal costs against the first named defendant; if the parties cannot agree the amount, it is to be assessed by the Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicator.