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Girl wins cerebral-palsy court case

Significant shorts

Thursday 04 September 1997 23:02 BST
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A High Court judge yesterday ordered an education authority to pay the pounds 30,000-a-year school fees of a seven-year-old girl suffering from cerebral palsy after the LEA had refused to do so on the grounds it was an inefficient use of resources.

Hereford and Worcester Council had ignored the findings of a Special Educational Needs Tribunal (Sent) that Karis Lane had not received proper attention at Chadsworth School in Bromsgrove, and, therefore, needed the special care provided by Ingfield Manor in Billingshurst, West Sussex. The LEA did not pay her school fees which were met for the first term by Scope, formerly the Spastics Society. Mr Justice Collins refused an appeal by the county council to refer the case back to the Sent so that another, less expensive, school could be found for Karis. The girl's mother, Karen, was legally aided to defend the action and was represented by Cherie Booth QC.

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