A fitness guru is suing a self-defense school for more than £40,000, claiming that a ‘aggressive’ instructor tore her hamstrings while she was taking a session.
Fiona Hayes, a personal trainer who specializes in boxercise routines, claims her teacher performed a ‘dangerous and reckless’ manoeuvre to floor her, ripping all three hamstring tendons in her right leg entirely away from the bone at her knee.
On November 1, 2019, the event occurred while the trainer was attending a Muay Thai self-defense session at the Dynamic Self Defense Academy in Hendon, north west London.
Ms Hayes, of Golders Green, north London, is now suing the owners of the self-defence school, Proguard Armour Ltd, of St Albans, for more than £40,000 in damages for her injuries.
Ms Hayes claims she was engaged in a ‘light sparring session’ with her instructor Marcel Oladeinde-Adeyemi when her knee ‘popped’ and she lost feeling in it after he ‘aggressively’ twisted her leg, according to papers filed in Central London County Court.
‘During the sparring, the claimant kicked her right leg, and Marcel Oladeinde-Adeyemi seized it, pinning the right leg beneath his elbow,’ her lawyer Michelle Marnham writes in court records.
‘He then dragged the claimant’s right leg aggressively towards him, and the claimant felt a pop from the right leg as he did so.’ The claimant’s left standing leg was immediately carried away.’
As she collapsed to the floor, Ms Hayes lost sensation in her right leg, according to her counsel.
The lawyer alleges that the self-defense instructor, who is a renowned Muay Thai fighter, assaulted her with a “dangerous and reckless manoeuvre,” and that he used “extreme force that was not required and was harmful in a light sparring session.”
‘The purpose of taking hold of the opponent’s leg with the technique is to disturb their balance so as to maximise the effect of the leg sweep on the supporting leg,’ she said.
‘Hardly any force is needed to achieve this. If Mr Oladeinde-Adeyemi had exercised reasonable care and skill in carrying out the technique, he would not pull the leg aggressively as the claimant describes.
‘Whilst the claimant accepts there is an element of risk, the injury of the kind and severity suffered is not one that would occur if reasonable care and skill were applied.
‘If Mr Oladeinde-Adeyemi had exercised proper care, such injury would not have occurred. Therefore the very happening of the injury is evidence of his negligence.’
The lawyer goes on to say that medical reports show Ms Hayes suffered ‘a complete avulsion of the three hamstring tendons of the right leg…a complete avulsion (pull off) of the hamstring tendons from the bone.’
She had to undergo major surgery and ‘suffered from severe pain’ for six months, Ms Marnham adds.
But for Proguard, solicitor Gideon Hajiof denies any blame.
‘It is denied that the defendant was negligent,’ he says.
‘In the circumstances of a Muay Thai class, during which physical contact between participants is accepted, the coach acted with adequate skill and care.
‘The defendant’s coach did not perform a dangerous or reckless manoeuvre.’
He insists Mr Oladeinde-Adeyemi performed the ‘routine technique’ in ‘a controlled manner,’ adding that ‘he did not deliberately injure the claimant.’
‘It is specifically denied that any such contact was deliberate or malicious.
‘The claimant is put to strict proof that the defendant’s coach used aggressive force.
‘It is denied that any such injury provides prima facie evidence that the defendant’s coach used excessive force.
‘There was no force used in sweeping and guiding the claimant to the floor, which he undertook in a controlled manner.’
The case has reached court for a brief pretrial hearing and is set to return for trial at a later date.