Judge approves settlement of €8,500 for child grazed by falling shop sign

A judge has approved a €8,500 settlement for a child whose face was grazed by a collapsing shop sign.

Barrister Sarah Corcoran told the Circuit Civil Court on Thursday that when one-year-old Klaudia Pelka was being wheeled in her buggy past a hair and beauty salon in Swords, Co Dublin, a banner sign had collapsed and hit her in the face.

Ms Corcoran, who appeared with Maguire McClafferty Solicitors for Klaudia and her father Mateusz, said Klaudia was now aged seven and living in Poland with her parents.

In May 2014 a shop sign at Ultimate Style Hair and Beauty in Main Street, Swords, had fallen on her. Luckily she had not suffered any serious injury and had been treated by her GP for a superficial graze on her left cheek and lip.

Klaudia had, through her father, sued June McDonnell, trading as Ultimate Style Hair and Beauty, Main Street, Swords.

Approving an €8,500 settlement offer together with District Court costs, Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain said the child had been very fortunate and the grazes to her cheek and lip had cleared up in a matter of weeks.

Ms Corcoran said that just under six years after the incident Dr Robert McQuillan, examining Klaudia on behalf of the defendant, had been unable to see any scarring or permanent mark to the child’s features.

Judge Ni Chulachain granted the child's legal team a certificate for counsel along with the lower court's costs.