Club official wins case over damages for attack

The Court of Appeal has upheld a judgment in which the former vice president of a football club was awarded thousands of euros in damages after he was attacked and badly injured following a match.

The amount of damages was, however, reduced.

Lawrence Bugeja had filed a writ for damages against Petrovich Coreschi, Johann Spiteri, Marlon Galea and the brothers Larry Laganà, Christian Laganan and Matthew Laganan. The incident happened nine years ago.

Mr Bugeja told the court that in March 2000 he had attended a football game at the Siġġiewi Football Club between Fgura United, of which he was vice president, and Vittoriosa Stars.

The court heard that during the match, player Matthew Laganan was sent off for fouling Fgura player Renzo Kerr Cumbo.

Mr Bugeja then overheard Mr Laganan tell his brothers Christian and Larry (whose surnames are spelt differently), that he was going to beat up Mr Kerr Cumbo after the match.

So Mr Bugeja followed the brothers and intervened after Matthew Laganan tried to hit Mr Kerr Cumbo. However, he was pushed to the floor by Mr Coreschi and kicked and punched by the three brothers.

Larry Laganà tried kicking Mr Bugeja in the face but broke his arm instead. This was witnessed by the pitch's caretaker, who called for assistance.

The first court awarded Mr Bugeja €25,837.41 in damages but the six accused filed an appeal.

The appeal court found that all six defendants were responsible for the damages sustained by Mr Bugeja and that the responsibility was to be borne between them.

When it came to the apportioning of damages, the court ruled that Larry Laganà was to pay half the amount.

However, it reduced the total amount to €20,330.77 because the first court had not calculated it correctly.