08 February 2024 , 16:31
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A professional fortune teller wants £200,000 in compensation after suffering multiple injuries when he claims he was "catapulted" from a "defective" seat in a cinema.
Tarot card reader and actor Marcus Hunefalk-Franzen says he suffers chronic neck and back pain as well as impaired hearing, taste and sense of smell due to the freak accident at Vue Cinema Islington, London in September 2015. Mr Hunefalk-Franzen, 58, says the incident badly impacted his earnings and also lost him multiple acting and performing arts opportunities. He went on to sue Vue Entertainment Ltd, with the company admitting liability for the accident.
But the cinema chain's lawyers are disputing the fortune teller's £200,000 valuation of the claim. Central London County Court heard that Mr Hunefalk-Franzen suffered his accident while watching a matinee show, claiming he clattered to the ground after his seat suddenly collapsed without warning as he got up at the end of the film.
At the time of his accident, Mr Hunefalk-Franzen, of Camden, north London, says he was doing professional tarot readings at Greenwich market and operating under the Twitter handle £mypsychiceye. He has had leading screen roles as an actor, including in Ginger Beer, a film about a gay teacher at an agricultural college learning ballroom dancing.
Court documents filed on his behalf state: "During the course of his visit, the claimant sat on a chair to view a film within the auditorium. As he alighted from the chair, the chair collapsed in on itself and catapulted the claimant forward into the chair in front, causing a forward flexion and deceleration movement, resulting in soft tissue damage.
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The cinema seat catapulted him (Supplied by Champion News)"The claimant fell to the floor. By reason thereof, he has suffered personal injury, loss and damage. It was later discovered that bolts anchoring the chair to the floor were missing, causing the chair to overturn."
Mr Hunefalk-Franzen claimed the collapsing chair was "dangerously defective" and became, in legal terms, a "trap" for him. He alleged fault by cinema staff in "failing to ensure the chair was sufficiently anchored to the floor by the negligent removal of safety bolts".
Judge Yvette Genn - presiding over a pre-trial hearing in the dispute - described it as a "complex claim - complicated by the fact that there was a previous brain injury suffered by the claimant in 2004, although Mr Hunefalk-Franzen says he had recovered from that by 2013".
Mr Hunefalk-Franzen, representing himself, told the judge he is only now beginning to mobilise properly again and "managing to start walking without a stick". The defendant's barrister David White disputed the value of the claim, insisting it is it is worth between £8,000 to £12,500.
He said Mr Hunefalk-Franzen had probably sustained a whiplash-type injury, but claimed the medical evidence "does not support the hearing loss or taste loss being attributable to this accident". However, Mr Hunefalk-Franzen claims his fall had devastating effects on his health and career, leaving him with soft tissue injuries to his neck, lower back and legs, as well as head injuries. Judge Genn directed that psychiatric and pain management evidence should be put together in preparation for a trial which is slated to start between November 2024 and February 2025.