An aspiring model maker who severed a finger while cutting wood with a circular saw on the second day of a work experience placement at a firm of London architects, today failed in a bid for a bigger damages payout.
Katie Ward, who was awarded nearly £80,000 in total by a judge after a hearing in Coventry County Court in 2011, was unable to persuade the Court of Appeal to increase the award.
Appeal judges heard that Miss Ward - who has a first class degree in model making from the Arts University College Bournemouth - severed the index finger of her left hand while working at Allies and Morrison in London in 2006.
They were told doctors had been able to re-attach the finger and that Miss Ward - who wanted to be a model maker in the theatre - had made a "considerable recovery".
The county court judge was asked to compensate Miss Ward for loss of future earnings - and awarded £30,000.
Miss Ward argued that the figure should have been more than £175,000.
She also argued she should have been awarded £20, 000 for psychiatric injury - instead of £4,000.
But appeal judges Lord Justice Aikens, Lord Justice Kitchin and Sir Richard Buxton disagreed and dismissed her appeal after a hearing in London.
