A boy who suffered second-degree burns when hot chocolate was spilled on him during an Aer Lingus flight has recovered more than €66,000 in a Supreme Court lawsuit.
ake Hegarty Murphy was 12 years old and was traveling with his grandmother to a family wedding in Malaga when the accident happened on board the Dublin to Malaga flight four years ago.
His counsel Aedan McGovern SC told the court that it was their business that Jake had been instructed to remove the lid from the cup of hot chocolate so he could put milk in it.
However, the fluid flowed into the boy’s thigh area, he said. A nurse who traveled on the run applied a burn gel to the burns and stayed with him for the duration of the flight, he said.
After the plane landed in Malaga, he was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with second-degree burns. He was kept in hospital overnight and treated with painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
According to the lawyer, the boy could not swim during the holiday and he also had trouble walking.
When he returned home, he went to his doctor and was given further painkillers.
For several weeks he had to have his wounds treated every three days.
According to the lawyer, the boy has a pale scar on his thigh.
Jake, (now 16) from Stocking Wood Green, Rathfarnham, Dublin had sued Aer Lingus over the accident on the flight from Dublin to Malaga on 3 October 2018.
It was claimed that there was no safe way to serve hot drinks, especially hot chocolate.
It was further alleged that the boy had not been warned of the known danger of the temperature at which the chocolate was served.
According to the court, liability was not an issue in this case.
Judge Paul Coffey, who approved the settlement, said it was fair and reasonable and wished the boy the best for the future.