The Court of Appeal has set aside the dismissal of a prisoner’s personal injury claim over a 2008 accident involving a metal-cutting machine at Wheatfield Prison, and remitted the case to the High Court for it to continue.
The appeal concerned the High Court’s dismissal of the claim, which alleged negligence and breach of duty by the prison governor, the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General. The plaintiff said four fingers on his left hand were traumatically amputated while he was using a GEKA Minicrop machine in a prison welding workshop. The defendants disputed liability.
The High Court found that the machine’s removable guide guard was absent and that it had not been locked out, and identified failures in safety duties and workshop supervision. It also found that the plaintiff had not proved the accident happened as he described it. The trial judge concluded that the plaintiff’s hand was palm upwards when the machine was activated, and dismissed the claim because the plaintiff had not established how his hand came to be in the blade’s path. The judge did not find that the plaintiff had acted with subjective recklessness.
On appeal, the court held that the plaintiff did not have to provide a cogent account of precisely how his hand entered the danger area if the cause of the accident could be inferred from the evidence. It concluded that the machine’s unsafe condition and lack of supervision had permitted his hand to be in the path of the blades when they were activated. The court said the plaintiff’s actions, absent proof of subjective recklessness, would not displace that cause.
The Court of Appeal allowed three grounds of appeal and dismissed the remaining grounds. It quashed the order dismissing the claim and remitted the matter to the High Court to resume and reach a conclusion in light of the appeal judgment. It did not decide damages or finally resolve contributory negligence. It invited written submissions on costs and, if needed, the form of the order.