Bosses of a Dundee tanning salon who were ordered to pay out more than £240,000 to a dance student who suffered tinnitus due to fire alarms going off, have failed in their appeal to overturn the decision.
Haesel McDonald worked part time in a salon owned by Indigo Sun in the city’s Strathmartine Road, while she studied at Dundee and Angus College.
She suffered devastating damage to her hearing after fire alarms in the shop went off for nearly four hours on December 12 2015, when she aged 19.
Ms McDonald alerted her manager, Steven Campbell, who ordered her to stay on duty after he had used tape to try to muffle the sound of the alarms.
She finished her shift but later suffered from headaches and tinnitus and complained of being unable to hear properly at college and when speaking to others.
Experts said she had been exposed to an average noise levels of between 87.5 and 82.3 decibels.
She moved back to her home in Inverness and consulted doctors in 2016 before senior medics confirmed she would need to use hearing aids.
Ms McDonald graduated with first class honours in contemporary dance but abandoned pursuing it as a career due to a loss of confidence.
She launched legal action against Indigo Sun – claiming she suffered loss, injury and damage through their negligence.
The court heard she will require hearing aids costing £3,999 which will require to be replaced every three years.
Indigo Sun’s legal team argued there had not been a breach of duty but Sheriff John Mundy ruled she should be awarded £241,277 in damages.
Indigo Sun’s appeal rejected
Tanning salon bosses appealed this decision, claiming there had not been a breach of duty and that her tinnitus and hearing loss had not been caused by exposure to noise that day.
They also argued against the sheriff’s approach to quantification of loss, particularly in relation to the cost of privately purchased hearing aids throughout her life.
In a written judgement published this week, Sheriff Principal Mhairi Stephen QC upheld Sheriff Mundy’s decision.
She wrote: “We are satisfied that the sheriff fulfilled his function to assess what was fair and reasonable compensation given Ms McDonald’s age, loss and circumstances leading to an award of damages which can be justified on the material available to him.
“The appeal has been refused on all grounds advanced by the appellant who shall be liable to the respondent in expenses of the appeal as taxed. The appeal merits sanction for the employment of counsel.”
Negligence
Sheriff Mundy concluded in a written judgement published last year the salon manager was negligent in failing to get Ms McDonald out of the premises.
The sheriff said the history and development of Ms McDonald’s symptoms were consistent with there being a causal link between between the exposure to noise and damage to her hearing.
Sheriff Mundy wrote: “It is more likely than not that as a result of the exposure to noise on 12 December 2015, within the defender’s premises, the pursuer developed tinnitus and associated moderate to severe high frequency sensorineural hearing loss in both ears.
“The recovery in damages of the cost of private hearing aids for day-to-day use and use during vigorous physical activity for the purpose of the pursuer’s future career and participation in dance is reasonable.”
