Boy Found Not At Fault for Running into the Road
18/3/2010
A boy who suffered serious injuries when he ran out into the path of a motorist will recover 100% of his damages, a court has decided. Cory Richardson was aged 8 when he was hit by a car driven by Tracy Butcher. The court heard that Cory had ran out into the road and then stopped before the car hit him.
The driver had been travelling at 25 mph and only saw Cory at the last moment. She had denied that she was at fault, saying that she braked as soon as she saw Cory in front of her car. Experts agreed that if she had been able to get her foot to the brakes 0.75 of a second earlier she would have been able to stop before hitting him.
Mr Justice Burnett said that the driver's attention should have been on the road ahead, but it was not. Cory was there to be seen for at least 2 seconds. The driver had failed to take reasonable care by failing to keep a proper lookout.
Because of his age Cory was not held to be in any way to blame himself and the judge ordered that he should recover 100% of his damages from the driver's insurers.
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