The High Court has overturned a compensation award made to a schoolboy during a no win, no fee case, a report said today.
Mr Justice Gross is reported to have said common sense needed to prevail when dealing with compensation claims.
Ryan Simonds was awarded £4,250 in compensation at Southampton County Court in March this year. He broke his arm six years ago when he jumped off a swing during a school sports day, the report said. His family then brought a no win, no fee case against his school.
Mr Justice Gross said if the payout had been allowed to stand then "sports days and other pleasurable sporting events will simply not take place", the report said.
"Such events could easily become uninsurable, or only insurable at prohibitive cost," he said.
According to the report, Rod Warne, senior insurance and risk officer for the Isle of Wight council said the ruling was a victory for common sense against "ambulance chasers".
He added: "It's a moral victory in so much as an air of reality and common sense has prevailed. It was an accident suffered by a young boy in the course of innocent play," the report concluded.
