Legal News

A woman who suffered brain damage after she nearly drowned during a school swimming lesson has won compensation from Essex County Council.

BBC News reports that 24-year-old Annie Woodland – originally from Essex but who now lives in Blackpool – was ten years’ old when she got into difficulties during a school swimming lesson at Gloucester Park Pool in Basildon. A teacher supervising the lesson and a lifeguard at the swimming pool both failed to recognise that she was in trouble in the pool.

The incident happened in July 2000, when she was a pupil at Whitmore Primary School in Basildon.

Ms Woodland’s parents Ian Woodland and Alison Morris took legal action against Essex County Council and a High Court judge ruled in favour of the family.

The family had originally been told at an earlier hearing in October 2011 that allowing Ms Woodland’s case to go to court would risk a “chilling effect” on the willingness of schools to take pupils on educational trips, because of the fear of legal action if anything went wrong.

Ms Woodland’s legal team had originally been claiming up to £3 million in damages for injuries she sustained, which include severe learning difficulties. She had to be resuscitated after being rescued from the water.

At this hearing, Mr Justice Langstaff threw the claim out of court on the basis that it was “bound to fail”.

However, in 2013, a Supreme Court hearing overruled this judgment, opening the way for the case to be heard in the High Court.

At the High Court, Mr Justice Blake ruled that lifeguard Debbie Maxwell and the school’s swimming teacher Paula Burlinson should have noticed Ms Woodland was drowning much sooner than they did.

Although neither the lifeguard nor the swimming teacher was employed by Essex County Council at the time of the incident, the judge ruled that the council was liable for Ms Woodland’s injuries.

Mr Justice Blake added that Ms Burlinson's failure to notice the schoolgirl in distress in the pool “fell far below the standard of care reasonably to be expected of a teacher”.

He also said that Ms Maxwell was negligent because “she was not paying sufficient attention to users in the water”.

A future court hearing will decide the level of compensation to be paid to Ms Woodland.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said:

“Essex County Council notes the judgment of Mr Justice Blake following a trial on liability.
“The authority cannot comment specifically on individual cases and it would be inappropriate to comment further therefore in respect of this claim.”

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