Widow awarded damages after egg allergy death
04 Mar 2010
A widow has been awarded damages after it was ruled that the
negligence of a caterer effectively caused her husband's
death.
Kuldip Singh Bhamra and his wife Amarjit Bhamra were Sikhs and had
travelled from Birmingham to a wedding at a Sikh temple in London
in 2003.
Although Mr Bhamra knew he had a serious allergy to eggs, he
assumed he was safe in eating all the foods at the wedding because
eggs are banned under the religion.
However, Prem Dubb of Lucky Caterers had underestimated the number
of guests that would attend the wedding and quickly ordered in some
more of a dish called ras malai from an outside source.
Nobody checked that it did not contain egg and it is thought that
this is where Mr Bhamra ate some of the animal-derived
product.
The victim, who had forgotten to pick up his epi-pen, went into a
coma and died three days later in hospital.
Ms Bhamra took legal action against the caterer, claiming that it
should have made sure all the foods at the wedding did not contain
banned foods.
Now, Lord Justice Moore-Bick has agreed that Mr Bhamra could have
reasonably expected to be safe in eating the food at a Sikh wedding
and agreed that Lucky Caterers should pay his widow GBP 415,000 in
compensation.
According to Bupa, egg allergies are most common in children under
the age of one, but they can occasionally carry on into adult
life.
