KEVIN MCGONIGLE V UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER

Coleraine County Court
24 September 2004
Judge Devlin

The Plaintiff in this case was employed by the Defendants at the University of Ulster in Coleraine as a Porter. He claimed that on 10 January 2001 while carrying staging with a colleague, he injured himself when he lost his balance on a step. He sustained an injury to his neck and right shoulder.

He alleged that the Defendants had failed in their duty to provide him with a safe place of work. Specifically, he alleged that he had been given inadequate assistance for the job in question; that he had been given inadequate instructions and training and that he had been allowed to lift heavy items when the Defendants were aware that he had been told to avoid heavy work.

The Defendants conceded that the Plaintiff had been lifting staging with the assistance of only one other worker at the time, although this was a job which would normally be done by four men. The Defendants contended that Plaintiff was aware that it was a four man job. The Defendants main contention was that on the medical evidence there was no evidence that the Plaintiff had been injured as a result of the alleged incident.

The Plaintiff conceded that he had not made any immediate report of the accident to his superior. He said that he was aware of immediate pain and had to take a rest for one hour. Although he said that he was aware of wrenching his neck and shoulder, he did not go to see his General Practitioner until nineteen days after the accident and even at that stage had not mentioned an injury at work.

He also accepted that he had had a long history of absence from work due to medical problems, primarily in relation to his neck. He had been off work for approximately six months prior to the alleged accident and it occurred only two weeks after his return to work.

It was put to him that Mr. Gavin Price FRCS Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon who had examined him on the Defendant’s part had concluded that, in his opinion, the Plaintiff had not injured his neck on the day in question and that the mechanics of the accident would suggest that if the Plaintiff had been injured he would have suffered a back injury rather than a neck injury.

The Plaintiff insisted that he had injured his neck.

Judge Devlin dismissed the Plaintiff’s claim on an application by the Defendants that there was no case to answer.

His Honour said that he found the Plaintiff completely lacking in credibility and did not accept that he was injured in the way that he alleged. The costs were awarded in favour of the Defendants against the Plaintiff.