H&M pays out €8.5k for leaving security tag on jeans that left baby screaming in pain

The court heard that the 10-month-old boy’s first Christmas present left him with cuts up his leg

H&M Hennes & Mauritz (Ireland) Limited had upped the settlement figure from €1,500, which was rejected earlier by the court, to €8,500. File picture: AP/Mark Schiefelbein

A 10-month-old boy’s first Christmas present left him screaming in pain, a judge has been told in a personal injury claim against top fashion store H&M.

Barrister Kevin D’Arcy said in the Circuit Civil Court that little Oscar Tarr’s mum had bought her son a pair of jeans to be delivered by Santa on Christmas night 2020.

On Christmas morning, while Oscar’s mum was putting the jeans on her baby, the pin of a security tag that had not been removed by the store scratched his leg from his left ankle all the way up the back of his leg to his bottom.

“A security tag with a pin attached had been left in one of the rear pockets on the jeans and when I pulled the jeans up on him he started screaming,” Oscar’s mum Michelle Malone told the court in an affidavit.

Mr D’Arcy, who appeared with Spelman Callaghan Solicitors for the child and Michelle Malone, of Coultry Terrace, Ballymun, Dublin 9, told Judge John O’Connor the Injuries Board had assessed compensation for the injury at €1,500 which was rejected earlier by the court.

He said that H&M Hennes & Mauritz (Ireland) Limited had since upped the settlement figure to €8,500 which he was recommending to the court.

Mr D’Arcy said the boy’s doctor had been contacted on Christmas Day and undoubtedly over the following few weeks there had been an issue with regard to cleaning the wound.

Ms Malone stated in her affidavit that Oscar was a little slow in returning to crawling due to the leg-long scrapes and lacerations, particularly to the back of his knee.

Judge O’Connor, approving of the settlement, said the boy’s legal team had done very well in negotiating the new level of damages.