"Objects In The Dark" - The Scout Association v. Barnes [2010] EWCA CIV 1476

"So, is awarding him damages for an injury suffered playing the game, "Objects in the Dark", not an example of an overprotective nanny state robbing youth of fun simply because there was some risk involved in the exercise? Is this a decision which emasculates those responsible for caring for our children and in so doing, enfeebles the children themselves? Where do you draw the line? I have found that hard to answer".

These are the words of Lord Justice Ward in a recent English Court of Appeal decision in which damages were sought from the Scout Association for injuries sustained by a 13 year old boy arising from a game that involved boys running around a hall, and then, once the lights were turned out, securing a block to themselves (there were more boys than blocks). The boy in question collided with a wall. He sustained relatively minor injuries.