Injury Compensation News

A truely tragic story in the Sunday Independent today highlights the dangers posed to pregnant women by antidepressants. Lisa McGillin reached a settlement of €500,000 with two doctors involved in her care during pregnancy – although there was no admission of liabilty or guilt in the case.  McGillin was given medication for her bipolar condition, without any warning about the dangers of taking antidepressants while pregnant.  In fact, McGillin claimed that she was also advised that Epilim (a brand of sodium valproate) was safe during pregnancy provided  she also took folic acid in adequate amounts.

In a rare example of a workplace injury claim not involving an actual physical injuries, a Securicor driver has been awarded €25,000 in damages for robbery of his van that included the “Tiger” kidnapping of a colleague’s wife. The security van driver, James Eakins, had sued Securicor Security Services Limited, his former employer, for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.  While not personally threatened, Eakins claimed that he was stressed by an incident when he handed over over €1 million to a work colleague whose wife had been taken hostage.  The 2007 incident happened while delivering cash to an ATM at a service station in County Carlow.   The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns,  ruled James Eakins was entitled to compensation.

Gardaí have a particularly dangerous job, and injuries at work are always going to occur.  There has been a significant increase in claims over the last 5 years. Some 430 claims have been settled in the past two years and more than 800 claims are outstanding. The total cost of the awards and legal costs was almost €30 million over the past two years. The numbers appear to indicate that about 5% of the members of the Garda Síochána are claiming compensation for work-related injuries every year.

Garda injury compensation claims are not handled by Injuries Board Ireland. The Garda Compensation Act specifies that all Garda injury claims must be handled by the High Court. There has been a significant increase in compensation for the stress caused by exposure to people that are possibly infected with diseases like hepatitis or HIV.  Some examples include:

• A garda was awarded €25,000 in compensation for stress after an encounter with a HIV-positive drug addict.

• A garda was awarded €30,000 after an injury became infected and he was afraid he might contract a disease.

• A garda was awarded €8,000 for physical and psychological suffering after being bitten during the arrest of a drug user.

Gardaí are exposed to other forms of workplace stress that other workers rarely experience.  For example, a garda who had a gun pointed at her and hid under a dashboard was awarded €30,000.  The gun was an imitation firearm, although there was no way for the garda to know that at the time.

Two young children who witnessed a savage dog attack on their mother, Mrs. Bernadette O’Leary, are to receive €75,000 between them for trauma and shock as part of the overal settlement.   Mrs. O’Leary was staying in a relative’s house in Waterfall, Co Cork. Another relative was responsible for looking after three collie dogs in the back garden.

It was alleged that Mrs. O’Leary was attacked by the three dogs in the back garden, although the house owners claimed that O’Leary had been told to not use the back garden and was therefore tresspassing at the time.  It was claimed that the attack resulted in lip and arm injuries that were witnessed by two young children.  One of the children kept a part of Mrs. O’Leary’s lip on ice in the hope that it could be stitched back on.  The children were not injured in the incident but are to receive €75,000 between them for the trauma and shock of seeing their mother attacked.

There was no admission of liability with the settlement.

A €250,000 settlement has been approved by  Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns of the High Court for the family of a motorcyclist, James Walsh, who died in a tragic accident on Fethard Road, Clonmel, County Tipperary. The award was made to Catherine Walsh and the couple’s two daughters, who arrived at the scene of the accident shortly after it happened.  The action was for mental stress and nervous shock.  The children were eight and fourteen years old at the time of the accident.

It was alleged in court that the accident happened when James Walsh took evasive action to avoid another vehicle that emerged from a side road.  Walsh swerved away from the vehicle but lost control of his motorbike and died from the injuries in the resulting crash.