Ryanair, which faces a €60,000 damages claim on behalf of a child scalded on a flight from Shannon to Wroclaw in Poland, has alleged his grandmother was responsible for spilling a hot drink on him.
County registrar Patricia Hickey was asked on Monday in the Circuit Civil Court to join Kacper Jacacki’s grandmother, Wanda Domzalska, formerly of Railway Meadow, Townspark, Longford, as a third party to her grandson’s personal injuries claim.
Ryanair solicitor Daniela Sabolova stated in written evidence it had been alleged the airline’s employees had caused Domzalska, referred to as the boy’s guardian on the flight and seated next to him, to spill the hot beverage over him.
Sabolova said a full defence by Ryanair had been delivered in the proceedings, in which it was denied the boy had a cause of action against the airline, and which also alleged any claim he might possibly have was against his grandmother and guardian on the flight.
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Hickey heard the boy had suffered second degree burns and had specifically alleged it had been his grandmother’s hot drink that had spilled over him. Sabolova stated that the hot drink had been delivered to his grandmother, and claimed his injuries had been due to acts or errors on her part.
Sabolova said the grandmother had a duty of care towards her grandson in circumstances where she was his grandmother and was in loco parentis of him on the flight.
Solicitors for the boy and his father Tomasz Jacacki said “such an unmeritorious and unworthy application” seeking to join the boy’s grandmother as a third party to the proceedings should never have happened.
Barrister Shane English, who appeared with Rebekah Tutty for Ryanair, told the county registrar it was a matter for the defendant or the court to decide whether or not a third party might be joined to the proceedings.
“What has been stated is outrageously egregious to my client and were the remarks not contained in a legal document I would be saying they were defamatory of my client,” English said.
The county registrar allowed an adjournment of the application to join the boy’s grandmother to the proceedings so that Ryanair could file a replying affidavit to the objection to its doing so. The boy’s grandmother was stated to be now resident in Poland.
