The High Court awarded a former night loader €30,000 for past pain and suffering and €15,000 for future pain and suffering after finding that a workplace fall caused minor soft-tissue injuries, but did not cause the lumbar disc pathology shown on his MRI scan.
Mr Justice Ryan delivered the damages judgment on 17 July 2014. The case concerned the amount of compensation due to Paul Harding, who was injured while working for Henry Denny and Sons (Ireland) Limited at its Portlaoise depot on 31 January 2011. Liability was not identified as an issue in the judgment; the judge said the central question was the severity and duration of the injuries.
Harding said he slipped in the back of a truck during his night shift and struck his neck and lower back on projections as he fell. He finished the shift and drove home. He saw his GP two days later, reporting neck and back pain as well as stress at work, and did not return to work after the accident.
An MRI scan in May 2011 showed bulging discs at L4/5 and L5/S1, without nerve compression or oedema. The judge accepted the medical consensus that the disc condition pre-dated the fall. He rejected a later opinion from Harding’s orthopaedic surgeon that the accident caused the disc prolapses, finding the surgeon had not adequately explained that view or his change of opinion.
Doctors at the employer-nominated MedWise practice considered Harding to have developed chronic pain syndrome. One advised a phased return to work in January 2012, but Harding did not return. The judgment records that the company said no light duties were available and that it dismissed him for incapacity in September 2012. The depot closed in early 2013, and its workers were made redundant. Whether Harding was still employed at closure affected his potential entitlement to a modest redundancy payment, but the judge said that issue did not arise if he had already been dismissed.
The judge found that Harding had pain, but not of a severe or disabling kind, and had exaggerated his symptoms. He described the continuing pain as more psychosomatic than physical, while finding the chronic pain syndrome was neither permanent nor irremediable. He was not satisfied that Harding was permanently disabled from work or unable to undertake moderate or heavy manual tasks with appropriate therapy. The judgment also criticised the employer for insisting on a return to full duties without adaptation.
The €45,000 assessment was for pain and suffering. The judge directed that special damages be added; the judgment does not state their amount.