JOHANNE DOBBIN -v- DEBBIE PATTERSON T/A HAIR TRAFFIC

Belfast Recorder's Court
26 September 2001
His Honour Judge Rodgers
Civil Bill - £12,500d

The Plaintiff was an employee of the Defendants and alleged that she sustained a contact dermatitis, as a result of exposure to wet work, between June and August 1996.

She further alleged that the Defendant had failed to provide her with protective equipment, such as gloves and cream. The Defendant denied this.

Discovery of the Plaintiff's General Practitioner's medical notes and records and employment records were of the utmost importance. The Defendant's consultant Dermatologist gave evidence that there was no record of a skin complaint to the General Practitioner while working with the Defendant. There was a diagnosis of dermatitis in May 1997, but she was then working in a bar. Also, her employment records revealed that in the two months of her employment with the defendant, she had only attended for a full 10 days. The Defendant's medical evidence was that this exposure simply could not have given rise to dermatitis.

Judge Rodgers dismissed the case, stating that the Plaintiff had not established, on the balance of probabilities, that her injury had occurred during the course of her employment with the Defendant. The Judge made strong reliance on the medical records and it was clear, he said, that these recorded that her problem arose when she was working in the bar.