The High Court awarded John O’Connell €15,000 in general damages after finding that a breach of his constitutional right to earn a livelihood affected his access to block-laying work in Limerick from 2000 to 2003.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Tony O’Connor on 12 April 2018, assessed damages only. The Court of Appeal had previously found that the Building & Allied Trades Union (BATU) breached O’Connell’s constitutional right by excluding him from membership and informing employers he was not a member, leading them to dismiss him or not employ him further. It remitted the claim to the High Court to assess damages arising only from that breach. The Court of Appeal had dismissed his claims in intimidation and conspiracy and upheld the finding that his claim against the Construction Industry Federation was statute-barred.
O’Connell claimed €368,689.72 in gross lost earnings for 2000 to 2008, along with an unspecified pension-loss claim. The High Court said he had not provided enough evidence to calculate his specific net loss, including how earnings and unemployment assistance should be accounted for. It accepted BATU’s submission that the loss-of-earnings claim was speculative and made no award for it.
The court also declined to award damages for lost job opportunities, which it found were not established with evidence about any particular opportunity. O’Connell had accepted that he could not quantify future loss. The judge rejected his claims for exemplary and aggravated damages, noting that they had not been pleaded or particularised before the assessment hearing. He also disregarded evidence from Professor O’Moore after allowing her to be called on the basis that her evidence would not be considered.
In fixing general damages, the judge found that BATU’s breach affected O’Connell’s access to the block-laying market in Limerick for the period 2000 to 2003. He compared the case with earlier constitutional-damages awards and assessed the breach as less severe than two of those examples, but more serious than another. He awarded €15,000 for the breach of constitutional rights. The judgment records that the Court could make no assessment of net lost earnings on the evidence before it.