A €17,500 settlement of compensation has been approved by a judge after a claim was made on behalf of a young girl against Ralph Lauren, a designer clothing brand.
Amelia Duhy, who was born on in April 2010, was bought a Ralph Lauren dress and pants outfit as a present shortly after she was born. Ten weeks after the birth, Amelia and her parents – Robert and Julie Duhy from Drogheda, Co. Louth – went on a short holiday. They brought the outfit, which had been bought in Brown Thomas, Dublin, with them.
However, one evening when Julie was preparing her daughter for bed, she noticed red marks on her child’s thighs. When they returned home, a GP said it was not an allergic reaction to the trousers and referred the family to a reconstructive surgeon. The consultant identified the bands as “secondary to a tights constriction band”.
Once the cause of the injuries had been determined, the clothes were sent to an expect in elastic fabric technologies. This expert ascertained that the material used was twice the recommended strength for adult clothing, meaning it was unsuitable for newborns. Julie sought legal counsel upon this advice and then made a claim on behalf of her daughter against Ralph Lauren Ireland Limited.
The legal team for Ralph Lauren entered a full defence against the claim prior to the hearing in the Circuit Civil Court, which was overseen by Mr Justice Raymond Groarke. They also made the offer of a €17,500 settlement. The judge was also told of how Julie had to massage BioOil into her baby’s thighs for two and a half years before the scars faded.
Judge Groarke was told of how the label for Ralph Lauren New York had been stitched into the clothes, manufactured in China, and though the elastic was strong, it had never broken the baby’s skin. He then proceeded to approve the settlement and ended the hearing.