Student Sues Schoolmate Over Tennis Mishap

Finley Enright-Burns, a student in a Queensland private school, is suing a classmate over a tennis mishap.

Paul Burns, the architect-father of Finley Enright-Burns, filed a formal complaint in behalf of his son. Burns named 13-year-old Julia Wright-Smith as a defendant.

The document showed that Wright-Smith hit Enright-Burns in the eye with a tennis ball. The incident happened during a tennis lesson last October 2011 at the Mudgeeraba school. Julia was allegedly “smashing” balls to Finley when the incident occurred.

Although Finley did not go to the hospital to seek medical help, the claim alleged that the child had an eye injury that required medical treatment.

The claim also named Jay Deacon’s Tennis School and Somerset College as defendants, saying the former did not provide protective eyewear to the players and allowed the two students to stand too close together. Somerset was named allegedly because of neglecting its duty of care.

Guy Wright-Smith, the cardiologist-father of Julia, said he was shocked to receive the claim, which was addressed to her daughter. He also said that the two children were friends and that the complaint was totally unexpected.

Legal observers expressed their concern over “litigation-crazy” parents. They said these kinds of complaints can affect the future of school sport as more parents might get third-party accident insurance for their kids.

Lawyer Bill Potts said such lawsuits are foolish and believed that parents have gone too far with complaints like these.

Several schools in Queensland have issued a ban against rough activities like red rover, cartwheels and tiggy because of accident fears.

Tagged Finley Enright-Burns, Guy Wright-Smith, Jay Deacon’s Tennis School, Julia Wright-Smith, Paul Burns, Somerset College