A JUDGE has ordered a farmer to pay a man who suffered brain damage following a play-time accident on her farm more than £300,000 compensation.
Lord Pentland ruled Antoinette Imrie should hand Craig Anderson, 21, a total of £325,976 for injuries he sustained when he was just eight years old.
Mr Anderson, of Perth, went to the Court of Session in Edinburgh last October in a bid to seek a payment from Mrs Imrie and her husband John.
Lawyers acting for Mr Anderson argued Mrs Imrie didn’t do enough to guarantee his safety.
Mr Anderson told the court how he was playing football with the couple’s son Ben at Hillhead Farm in Torrance, East Dunbartonshire, on June 28 2003 when the pair decided to herd sheep through a gate into a steading.
He told his advocate Robert Skinner he climbed on to the first rung of the gate and lifted the chain from the metal post to open it.
However, as he did so, the gate fell on top of him, pinning him to the ground causing him to sustain a brain injury.
In a written judgment issued at the court yesterday, Lord Pentland ruled in favour of Mr Anderson.
He wrote: “I am satisfied that Mrs Imrie failed to ensure that the pursuer was subject to such supervision as was necessary to restrict the risk of injury to an acceptable level. She failed in my opinion to take reasonable care to see he did not... injure himself.”
Mr Anderson’s lawyers claimed he has suffered a brain injury which affected his academic performance and his ability to form and maintain relationships.
Mr Anderson’s legal team also claimed their client’s alleged injury deprived him of having a professional career and his earning capacity is now “seriously damaged”.
Last October, Mr Anderson, who currently has his own gardening business, told the court he couldn’t remember much about the accident.
Mr Anderson told the court that following the incident, he was taken to Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital before being transferred to the sick children’s hospital at Yorkhill.
Doctors there decided to transfer him to the specialist head injuries unit at the city’s Southern General Hospital.
The court heard Mr Anderson received care for three weeks.
The Imries, who were represented by Kay Springham QC, claimed they fulfilled all duties of reasonable care towards Mr Anderson.
The farmers said that 12 months following the accident, Mr Anderson was examined at the Institute of Neurological Sciences and was thought to have “done well”.
They say the only problem noted at the time was that he suffered occasional headaches and he was discharged from further medical care in July 2004. The Imries also stated Mr Anderson had problems with his academic performance before the accident and that this continued following the incident.
The judge said Mr Anderson didn’t comply with instructions given to him by Mrs Imrie on how to stay safe on the farm. He also ruled Mr Anderson sustained a “moderate” brain injury.
But Lord Pentland added: “I consider that Mrs Imrie failed in the duty of care she owed to the pursuer.”
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