Tort
Personal Injury – Skin Disease
Accidents at Work – Skin Disease For Employer’s Duties see HERE It is generally agreed that skin disease is the commonest occupationally-caused disease. According to the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive it accounted for 59% of all reported occupational disease in 1978-79. This reflects the Irish experience in proportional terms, although the total Irish figures are deceptively low. Although the skin is a remarkable and complex organ, the stresses applied to it in some workplaces are extreme and it […]
Personal Injury- Time is running
The time within which proceedings for compensation for personal injury must be issued, at risk of being barred under the Statute of Limitations 1957 (as amended), was shortened to two years by the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004. This provision came into effect on 31st March 2005. Thus, prima facie, such actions must be issued before 31st March 2007 (or lodged and registered with the Personal Injuries Assessment Board), failing which they may be dismissed without a hearing on […]
Fatta la Legge, Trovato L’inganno
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (the Tanaiste), has declared his intention to introduce a new system for establishing legal fees. It is early to say, but this seems to be directed at legal fees in litigation. His plan is based on the Report of the Legal Costs Implementation Advisory Group. Civil litigation is an adversarial process. It is not a search for scientific truth. In short, it is emphatically not an inquiry. The Minister has recently expressed […]
Personal Injury – Hearing Loss Claims * for Noise
The suppression of noise does not seem to be high on the agenda of modern industrial machinery designers. Unfortunately, worker victims of the noise find it all too easy to suffer easily-perceptible permanent hearing loss as a consequence. That is, irreversible damage can occur without the victim being aware of it. Dangerous noise can be sudden or prolonged. We have all found ourselves temporarily deafened by noise. Human hearing can deal with many such instances, if they are infrequent. Admittedly, […]
Personal Injury – Repetitive Strain Injury
REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURY See HERE for the Employer’s duties. At least 120 people of a staff of 340 in the Financial Times reported possible Repetitive Strain Injury symptoms Over a two and a half year period. The injury is one of the most common of those listed in the reports of the Health and Safety Authority . The UK experience confirms this too. The condition is also sometimes referred to as Occupation Overuse Syndrome. It involves inflammation of the muscles, […]
Personal Injury – Employers’ Duties
Occupational Health and Safety An employer owes duties to employees under Common Law and statute. The common law duties have been developed by the courts as they decide cases on accidents at work. The employer’s Common Law duties are: a) To provide a safe place of work b) To provide proper tools and equipment c) To provide a safe system of working d) To provide competent staff In addition an employer owes duties under statute to safeguard employees in the […]
Medical Negligence – Obstetrics
The practice of obstetrics is somewhat different to other medical specialities in that the “patients”, the mother and baby, are healthy when they come under the care of the specialist. (This may not be strictly accurate; it is estimated that about 1% of babies have some form of defect). Nevertheless, the specialist is answerable for any error of medical management in the care of one or both of the patients. See here. There is a strong body of opinion that […]
Personal Injury Claims Part 2
Personal Injury Claims Part 1 is available. Should Ireland adopt the New Zealand system? Perhaps. It has been seriously mooted in relation to medical negligence claims. No Irish Government has ever hinted at the possible adoption of the full scheme. Should Ireland avoid such a system? Possibly. The total number of injuries and illnesses, sustained at work, for 2003 was 100,700. Most of these involved absences from work for 3 days or less. Any scheme would mean that these people […]
Personal Injury Claims – Part 1
What do people mean when they refer to âPersonal Injuryâ? claims? It is, firstly and obviously, a reference to the consequences of an event; somebody has been injured. In addition, following the injury there is an allegation that somebody else has caused the injury and is answerable in law for that. Its current major significance is the consideration of the claim as an administrative problem. It also expresses a particular view of the âproblemâ?; administratively, the problem could be the […]
Sub Judice
The Irish Times reports on 20th January 2007 that the High Court is hearing an appeal from the Circuit Court where the Plaintiff was successful against a provincial newspaper for breach of privacy. Apparently the Plaintiff was photographed while playing gaelic football and his genitals were visible in the photograph, which the newspaper published. The Plaintiff had also pleaded defamation but abandoned that claim in the Circuit court. The appeal is current and final submissions from the newspaper are expected […]