€21.75 million total settlement for young man who sustained catastrophic injuries at birth

Marian Fogarty, Ernest Cantillon and the medical negligence team at Cantillons were delighted to assist Connor Corroon in securing sufficient damages to meet his Care/PA support and other requirements for the rest of Connor’s life. Connor who suffered catastrophic injuries during the circumstances of his birth at the former City General Hospital, Cork received a final lump sum settlement of €17.5 million on Monday 11th November last, at Dublin High Court.

Connor Corroon has dyskinetic tetraplegic cerebral palsy, he cannot walk unaided and requires 24-PA support.   Despite these challenges Connor has achieved significant milestones in his life, including completing third level education, representing his country internationally at boccia and has competed at power soccer tournaments, nationwide.

Through his mother Judith Corroon, Connor had sued City General Hospital Cork and Dr Pillany Pillay, a Consultant Obstetrician in 2002, arising out of the circumstances of his birth, at the hospital on 6th February 1995.

Liability was previously conceded by the Hospital/Consultant and the case had previously come before the Courts, where interim payments for mostly care and therapy were made to Connor in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. This brings his full settlement of compensation to a total of €21.75 million.   His case was the first of its kind to be adjourned on an interim basis, 9 years ago.  Due to Connor’s young age at the time, it was felt by the Court that if his case settled on a full and final basis at that stage, he could end up being undercompensated, as there was a dispute between the parties on his life expectancy.

The case was again listed before the High Court on the 5th November 2019, as an assessment of damages on a full and final basis.   The case opened on Wednesday 6th November 2019 and the High Court was advised on the 11th of November 2019, that the matter had been compromised. Connor gave evidence to the Court on Thursday 7th November through eye gaze technology (purchased with the money he got from the Court on the last interim payment). The funds he previously obtained also enabled Connor to hire Speech and Language therapists who gave him huge help with the eye gaze technology.  Last Thursday 7th November 2019, Connor spoke to the Judge using this machine.  He is proud that for the first time ever he was able to speak in public and let people know what he wanted to convey, rather than others guessing what he was thinking. Connor was one of the first ever witnesses to give his evidence with the assistance of eye gaze technology.

Connor is thankful to the Court for allowing him the opportunity to give his evidence, through assistive technology.  He also wishes to express his gratitude to his family, friends, PA’s, therapists and legal team of Marian Fogarty and Ernest Cantillon of Cantillons Solicitors and his Counsel, all of whom have assisted him to achieve a level of compensation that will give him the opportunity to purchase the requisite care/PA support and therapy he requires for the rest of his life.

Media coverage of the settlement:

Virgin Media Television coverage – Report at 3.46min.

RTE New coverage

Irish Examiner coverage

Irish Times coverage

Independent.ie coverage 

Contact Our Birth Injury Claim Solicitors

If you are looking for a Birth Injury Claim Solicitor, please contact Cantillons Solicitors using the contact form below, call us on +353 (0)21 4275673 or email us at info@cantillons.com for more information. Our offices are located at 39 South Mall, Cork. We do, however, represent clients from all over Ireland. Should you be unable to attend our offices, we are more than happy to travel to you, or conduct the meeting on Zoom.

* In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage of any award or settlement.