The High Court has awarded €944,074.46 to a worker injured while trying to free a colleague’s hand from machinery at a Limerick factory in 2018. Mr Justice Paul Coffey found that the accident contributed to the worker’s right shoulder condition and accepted that his injuries limited his ability to work.
Mark Keane was working a night shift at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Ireland)’s factory on 10 September 2018 when a colleague’s hand became trapped under a heavy machine weight. The judgment says Keane used his right shoulder to support the load while other employees freed the colleague. He fractured his right little finger in the incident. The defendant admitted liability, but disputed whether the accident caused Keane’s shoulder symptoms and whether he remained unable to work after September 2020.
The defendant argued that shoulder pain was not recorded in the early medical records and pointed to Keane’s cycling activity in summer 2020. It also relied on medical evidence that the MRI findings could have several causes. Keane’s case was that the force involved in the rescue caused or aggravated a shoulder injury, with symptoms emerging gradually while his arm was immobilised during treatment for his hand.
The judge accepted that account on the balance of probabilities. He found that Keane had no prior right shoulder symptoms, that the rescue involved considerable force through his shoulder, and that immobilisation could have masked symptoms. The judge also relied on evidence of pain radiating from Keane’s hand towards his shoulder by December 2019, and medical opinions that the accident likely contributed to the gradual development of symptoms.
On employment, the court found that Keane was not medically cleared to return to his previous process technician role. Although the company identified one alternative role for discussion, it was never offered to him, and the return-to-work process was halted in November 2020. The judge accepted that physical and psychological impairments had prevented Keane from working to date. For future earnings, the court assessed his likely residual earning capacity at an equivalent of €30,000 a year, against the earnings he would otherwise have received.
The award includes €135,000 in general damages for the combined injuries, €154,605 for past earnings and pension rights, and €408,943.50 for future loss of earnings after a reduction for contingencies. It also includes pension, health insurance, medical treatment and other special damages. The judgment’s listed components add to €943,074.46, although paragraph 62 states the same total as €944,074.46. The court ordered judgment against the defendant for €944,074.46.