A woman has lost her battle for compensation. After being hit in the eye by a cricket ball as she walked past a match in progress.
Woman loses court case for compensation after being hit by cricket ball: The woman in question, Phoebe Lewis, was “seriously injured” back in August 2014 as she was walking past Battersea Park where the cricket match was being played. And got hit in the eye by the ball. She had initially won her claim for compensation against Wandsworth Council at a county court hearing. After arguing that safety signs should have been in place and was awarded £17,000 and the same in costs.
However, the decision was overruled by a High Court judge earlier this month. Mr Justice Stewart summed up in the judgement that it should of been “quite obvious” to a passer-by that the match was in progress. And argued her claim that softer balls would of been used. He added that “What I frankly fail to understand is how the Recorder [the judge in the case] could envisage that a cricket match played by adult men could be assumed by any reasonable passer-by to be using a soft ball.
This would have been particularly so if they were wearing whites. And therefore playing what would appear to be a serious match. The finding that the warning should have been that a hard ball was being used about cannot be upheld.” Ms Lewis had said in the county court hearing that she heard players shouting and was hit in the eye as she looked up.
She added “I clutched my face and fell to the floor. The cricketers came over to see if I and my friend were alright. I asked if someone could call an ambulance as if my eyeball had fallen out or been destroyed and then it began to be painful.”
She was a regular user of the park it is said and that she “may” have seen the players. Her claim was disputed by Wandsworth Council which claimed the pitch was “clearly visible” and regular users would know a match was being played. However the local council lost the initial case with the recorder determining it had failed in it’s duty of care. By leaving the pathway along the boundary of the pitch open during a game.
He added Wandsworth Council had also failed to warn Ms Lewis a match was taking place. Mr Justice Stewart overturned these findings. And said “I reach the conclusion that the Recorder’s judgement was wrong.”
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