Mother awarded €47,500 over UCC student’s death

The mother of a French student has been awarded €47,500 after he died as a result of the inhalation of gas from a cooker at his rented home in Co Cork.

Mr Justice John Edwards sympathised with the family of Alexis Landry, who was 29 at the time of his death on Nov 8, 2008, at Sleaveen East, Macroom.

Mr Landry had just begun a PhD in archaeology after receiving a first-class master’s in the subject from University College Cork.

John Lucey, counsel for Francoise Helias, of Rue Pierre Donzelot, Besancon, France, said the settlement offer in the case was €47,500 without a formal admission of liability for the accident.

While Ms Helias was not present in the court sitting in Cork yesterday, there was an affidavit from the plaintiff.

In it she referred to a report commissioned by her solicitor, Peter Fleming, from RA Siddons, of Bugoyne’s of Yorkshire, who was also retained to prepare a report for the Commission for Energy Regulation, the National Consumer Agency, and the National Standards Authority of Ireland on the cooker grill, New World Vision 50 TWLM LPG, in Jan 2009.

Ms Helias’s affidavit stated: “It was the conclusion of the report that the cooker had the potential to emit fatal concentrations of carbon monoxide into the premises when the grill burner was operated with the grill door closed.

“This, it appears, was how the burner was operated according to Garda investigations, and the conclusion is that this is a plausible cause of death.

“There was no relevant, defective, poorly installed or poorly maintained parts to account for any unexpected operation of the cooker. The cooker did comply with the requirements of the European standard.

“Mr Siddons concluded that it was foreseeable that the grill may have been operated with the door closed and the design should have safely accommodated this feature.

“On this basis, it was possible that the design and operation of the cooker failed to comply with the Gas Appliance Directive and part of the EN30, but Mr Siddons felt this was a matter ultimately for a court or similar body to determine.

“A number of urgent gas cooker alerts issued by the manufacturers and by the consumer agencies [in Ireland] and in the United Kingdom indicated that if not correctly used the cookers could produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide which could cause serious injury or death.

“There were arrangements made to modify these cookers without charge.

“The notices indicated that if a person continued to use the cooker he or she must not under any circumstances operate the grill with the grill door closed.

“The National Consumer Agency in Ireland issued a report connecting six deaths in Ireland and the United Kingdom to the problem.”

The defendants were manufacturers Beko plc; importers of the product into Europe, Glen Dimplex Home Appliances Ltd; which distributed it to Dimco Ltd; which supplied it to JJ Dwyer Electrical Wholesaler Ltd; which sold it to Martin Lehane, the owner of the apartment where the late Mr Landry was living.