Boy awarded 20,000 for injury to finger at school’s toilet

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The Court of Appeal has upheld a lawsuit of a 16-year-old boy from Claxton Bay, whose finger was partially severed by a faulty toilet door at his former primary school in 2010. Delivering an oral judgment following a brief virtual hearing, yesterday, Appellate Judges Charmaine Pemberton, Maria Wilson and Ronnie Boodoosingh, affirmed the decision of High Court Judge Frank Seepersad, who upheld Nickel Audhan’s negligence lawsuit in 2016 and awarded him $20,000 in compensation. Presenting submissions on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General before the appeal panel made its decision, attorneys Kendra Mark and Natoya Moore claimed Seepersad made an error when he found that the principal of the school breached her duty to keep students safe under Section 27 of the Education Act. They claimed that Audhan, through his mother Yvonne, was entitled to pursue a negligence lawsuit but not additional elements over a statutory breach arising out of the incident at the Macaulay Government Primary School. In response, the Audhans’ lawyer, Renisa Ramlogan, called on the appeal panel to maintain Justice Seepersad’s ruling as she claimed that he made no errors. According to the evidence in the case, the incident occurred around 8 am on February 2, 2010.

Audhan, who was then five-years-old, was attempting to push open the door to the school’s toilet. It swung back and squeezed his little finger between it and a metal door frame.

A small portion of his finger was completely severed.In his judgment, Seepersad rejected the evidence of the school’s principal who claimed that the school should not be held to be negligent as it warned students regularly of the issues with the toilet doors.

He said that in addition to failing to address the doors, the school also failed to ensure that its students were supervised when using the facilities.“Admittedly, the level of vulnerability and the supervision that is required decreases with the passage of time. Once a clearly-defined drop off time has been determined by the school, systems must be put in place to ensure that small children are adequately supervised until their respective class teachers arrive,” Seepersad said.

He ordered that Audhan’s compensation be deposited in an interest-bearing account in the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), which he would only be able to access when he turns 18. Seepersad also noted that school administrators had a responsibility to ensure students are supervised at school facilities even before and after operating hours.

“Anything short of such an arrangement is an abdication of the responsibility placed on schools both under the common law and by virtue of the Education Act,” Seepersad said.

While the State lost the appeal, it was not ordered to pay the family’s legal costs for the appeal and lawsuit as they were represented through the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority.