Appeals court confirms €64,500 compensation for injured student

The Court of Appeal has confirmed compensation of €64,500 to a former trade school student who lost an eye during an incident at school in 1986.

Wayne Camilleri had filed his case against the Director of Education. He told the court that he suffered a permanent disability to one of his eyes in October of that year when a piece of metal pierced his eye. At the time Mr Camilleri was 16 years old and was studying to become a motor mechanic.

The boy's teacher had not been in the class when the accident happened, and it resulted that the boys had not been given any safety equipment.

The first court had found that although it did not seem that Mr Camilleri's injury had negatively affected his earning capacity, this did not mean that Mr Camilleri was not entitled to compensation for his injury.

The first court awarded Mr Camilleri €64,500 and ordered the Director of Education to pay this sum in damages.

Mr Camilleri felt aggrieved by the damages award and filed an appeal, arging that the court ought to have established his level of disability at 30 per cent and not 17 per cent. He further submitted that the income on which the first court assessed the damages award was too low.

The Court of Appeal, however, declared that the first court's assessment of the damages had been based on consistent case law and it declined to vary the percentage disability established by the first court. The Court of Appeal declared that it agreed with the conclusions of the first court and dismissed the appeal.