The High Court has awarded €268,589 in damages to a worker whose back pain became chronic after a workplace fall, finding that the accident aggravated previously asymptomatic degenerative changes in his spine.
In a judgment delivered electronically on 23 March 2022, Mr Justice Barr found that the plaintiff’s ongoing symptoms and disability were caused by the accident on 23 July 2017. The employer’s liability for the accident was not in dispute. The judgment does not name the plaintiff, who is referred to as “the plaintiff”.
The worker fell partly into an opening in the floor while helping move a metal sheet, striking his back against its edge. He returned to finish his shift and worked a further night shift, but saw his GP two days later with severe lower back pain. He has not worked since July 2018.
The medical evidence conflicted over whether the accident caused his lasting symptoms. The defendant’s experts considered the injury a minor strain and attributed ongoing complaints mainly to pre-existing degeneration and other factors. The plaintiff’s treating doctors and experts considered that the fall had made his previously asymptomatic spinal condition symptomatic. The court preferred the latter evidence, finding that subsequent activities such as dancing and clearing snow caused flare-ups rather than the underlying pain. It accepted that psychological factors and physical deconditioning may have contributed to the symptoms’ persistence, but found no deliberate malingering or exaggeration.
The court considered that an intensive rehabilitation programme of at least six months could enable the plaintiff to return to light work, probably with the defendant, and assessed that he would be back in full-time light work in a year. It stressed that this was a prediction on the balance of probabilities, not a guarantee, and that he would not necessarily be pain-free. The court allowed one year of future earnings loss, noting uncertainty about his return and the prospect of suitable work being available.
The award comprises €60,000 for pain and suffering to date, €20,000 for future pain and suffering, €121,973 for past earnings loss net of the recovery of benefits deduction, €39,533 for future earnings loss, €17,083 for lost pension contributions and €10,000 in agreed other special damages. The total is net of the recovery of benefits amount. The court said the amount for recovery-of-benefits purposes as of 28 March 2022 would be €49,996.40, with a further amount to be clarified with the authorities when it falls due.
Because the judgment was delivered electronically, the parties were given two weeks to submit written arguments on the terms of the final order, costs and any other arising matters. The judgment therefore assessed damages but left those matters for further submissions.