The High Court awarded James Molloy €75,000 for pain and suffering after glass sheets fell onto his legs in a workplace accident at Tipperary Glass Limited’s factory on 16 March 2018. The company had conceded liability, so the hearing concerned the assessment of damages.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons found that the accident caused significant injuries to Mr Molloy’s lower legs, including lasting sensory disturbance, and chronic lower back pain. He accepted that the back injury had been caused by the accident, noting medical evidence and the absence of reported back pain to his GP in the 14 years before it. The judge also found Mr Molloy medically unfit for the manual factory work he had done before the accident.
The €75,000 general damages award comprises €50,000 for the back injury and €25,000 for the additional discomfort and disability affecting the legs. The judge classified the back injury as “moderately severe” under the Book of Quantum and said the award reflected past and future pain and suffering.
The court also awarded €81,320 for loss of earnings up to the April 2022 trial. Of that sum, €43,314 is to be deducted from the payment to Mr Molloy to account for social welfare payments already received; the defendant must pay an equivalent amount to the Minister for Social Protection for recoverable benefits. The judgment described the past earnings loss as covering the four years from March 2018 to the trial.
The judge found that the company had not established that suitable alternative work was available or that Mr Molloy had failed to mitigate his loss. The company called no witnesses and provided no evidence on employment prospects. A vocational assessment, agreed by the parties, described significant barriers to alternative work, including his injuries, age, education and lack of transferable skills.
For future earnings, the judge proposed an award equivalent to four years’ earnings, using €380 a week as the counterfactual wage. The amount was not fixed in this judgment: the court said it would hear further submissions on the capital calculation and any applicable adjustments for social welfare payments. Mr Molloy had confined this part of his claim to four years, in light of his proposed plan to pursue a mechanical engineering qualification. The judge stressed that the decision was confined to the particular facts and did not establish a general rule for workers nearing retirement who plan to study.
The parties had also agreed €7,000 for other special damages. The case was listed to return on 27 May 2022 for submissions on the final order, including future earnings, costs and interest. The judgment therefore set out awards and proposed terms, while leaving the final order to be settled.