A CIRCUIT COURT judge has awarded a settlement of €20,000 to a 6-year-old boy following an incident where a laptop exploded and caught fire while he was using it.
The boy, now aged 10, sued Hewlett Packard Ireland Ltd, manufacturers of the laptop, through his mother Anne Marie O’Sullivan for up to €60,000 damages for physical and psychological injuries he suffered as a result of the explosion at their home in Castle Hill, Slane, Co. Meath on October 4, 2013.
Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke told barrister Caitriona Craddock, “You have put the heart cross-ways in me” when she outlined how Shane O’Sullivan’s laptop exploded in his face.
“That’s scary. You’re telling me that none of us are safe leaving our laptops plugged in overnight,” the judge said Tuesday.
Ms Craddock told the court that Shane was using the laptop on the dining table in the family’s kitchen when it exploded and went on fire.
She also said that Shane suffered a darting pain going up his arm at the time and suffered psychological trauma including becoming anxious about all electrical appliances.
In a more recent review conducted in September 2015, the report concluded that apart from a nervousness of electrical appliances, the boy had recovered from the experience and was now participating in sports and all usual childhood activities.
