Swedish schoolboy told to pay massive legal bill
A Swedish boy who was left seriously injured after a set of football goalposts fell on top of him has been ordered to pay 545,000 kronor ($74,000) after losing a dispute with his local municipality.
Viktor Karlsson was just a six-year-old when the incident occurred in 2009 in Sandviken in eastern Sweden. He was out playing with friends when the goalposts got overturned and he was crushed under its 70 kilo weight.
He later spent several weeks in hospital recovering from his injuries while his family took out a private legal action against the Sandviken municipality.
After waiting five years the Gävle district court has given its verdict in the case and decided that the municipality cannot be held liable for the boy's injuries.
As a result the boy has been ordered to pay 300,000 kronor to cover half of the legal expenses. Both the boy's family and the municipality have launched an appeal. Now the municipality wants the boy to pay the full amount to cover all of the combined legal costs - 545,000.
"He will become indebted for life," the boy's mother Linda Karlsson told the Arbetarbladet newspaper.
The lawyer for the municipality told the newspaper that they realized that it was difficult for the boy, now aged 11, to be able to pay the full sum of 545,000 kronor but stated they weren't able to drop the appeal.
"The district court wrote down the amount by half but we want to get paid for our legal costs," said Anders Asplund.
TT/The Local/pr
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Viktor Karlsson was just a six-year-old when the incident occurred in 2009 in Sandviken in eastern Sweden. He was out playing with friends when the goalposts got overturned and he was crushed under its 70 kilo weight.
He later spent several weeks in hospital recovering from his injuries while his family took out a private legal action against the Sandviken municipality.
After waiting five years the Gävle district court has given its verdict in the case and decided that the municipality cannot be held liable for the boy's injuries.
As a result the boy has been ordered to pay 300,000 kronor to cover half of the legal expenses. Both the boy's family and the municipality have launched an appeal. Now the municipality wants the boy to pay the full amount to cover all of the combined legal costs - 545,000.
"He will become indebted for life," the boy's mother Linda Karlsson told the Arbetarbladet newspaper.
The lawyer for the municipality told the newspaper that they realized that it was difficult for the boy, now aged 11, to be able to pay the full sum of 545,000 kronor but stated they weren't able to drop the appeal.
"The district court wrote down the amount by half but we want to get paid for our legal costs," said Anders Asplund.
TT/The Local/pr
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