A YOUNG LAW student who received first-degree burns when a member of a Ryanair cabin crew accidentally splashed boiling water on his right foot has been awarded €10,000 damages only two hours before graduating in law at UCD.
Kevin Keenan (23) of Doonsalla Park, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, told the Circuit Civil Court he was injured while returning on a Ryanair flight from Malaga on 12 June 2016.
“I was standing at the toilet waiting for another passenger to come out when one of the cabin crew carrying a jug of boiling water turned quickly and splashed the boiling water on my foot,” he said.
“The toilet was close to the kitchen area.”
Keenan told his barrister Justin McQuade that he had immediately been treated by cabin crew staff who applied burn solution and ice before bandaging his foot.
McQuade, who appeared with Brendan Maloney Solicitors for Keenan, said it was an unfortunate incident. Liability had been conceded and the court was being asked to assess damages. Keenan said the incident occurred about an hour into the flight.
Keenan, who was due to be conferred this afternoon, told Judge Karen Fergus he was a keen golfer and also played football and tag rugby. He said that on arrival at Dublin Airport he had driven himself home and on the following day, a Monday, he had attended his GP, Dr Barry Danaher.
He told the court that when the bandage that had been applied to his foot on the aircraft had been removed by Dr Danaher an area of skin had come away with it.
Keenan said he had afterwards attended for dressings at St Michael’s Clinic in Dun Laoghaire.
He told barrister Andrew Walker, who appeared with Maples and Calder Solicitors, for Ryanair, that he had returned to playing golf, football and tag rugby within three weeks of the incident.
He said that during his first game of golf he began feeling pain after about 16 holes. He had told his treating doctors that his ability to stand and walk had been profoundly affected. He had been left with an area of mild scar tissue which, according to doctors, would fade over time.
Judge Fergus said Keenan had suffered a first-degree burn which had required immediate treatment. He had been left with minor residual scarring and she considered an appropriate award of damages would be €10,000 plus special damages of €77 and costs.
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