Judge brings 'common sense to bear' on wheelbarrow injury claim as trainer found not liable

Extra.ie​

5 hours ago

A horse racing trainer will not be held liable for an employee's back injury which happened during the emptying of a wheelbarrow, the High Court has ruled.
Adrian Keatley, a Classic-­winning racing trainer, was sued by a former employee who said he felt a pain in his back when tipping up the barrow.
Judge Michael Twomey said that plaintiff Mark Lawless had been doing an everyday task using a wheelbarrow that was perfectly fit for use. Trainer Adrian Keatley, left, and jockey Shane Foley. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
He observed: 'It seems clear to this court that if this incident had occurred in Mr Lawless's home or garden, it would be regarded as an unfortunate everyday mishap or an accident, in the true sense of that word – i.e. where no one was to blame.
'However, it happened when Mr Lawless was working as a stable hand for the defendant, his former employer and racehorse trainer Mr Keatley.'
He said the case raised the wider question of 'whether incidents such as these should lead to compensation, simply because they occur on the premises of a third party with insurance, eg that of an employer, a businessperson or indeed the State'. Adrian Keatley. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Judge Twomey noted that the Supreme Court had advised that in personal injury claims for ­damages, the courts should apply 'common sense and some degree of scepticism'.
He continued: 'This court does not need expert engineering ­evidence on emptying a ­wheelbarrow and can bring ­common sense to bear on this everyday activity'.
The judge said it was also ­relevant that the Court of Appeal had found that an employer was not automatically liable for an injury resulting from an employee doing an everyday task, simply because he or she happened to do that task at work. Pic: Cody Glenn / SPORTSFILE
'To put it another way, the presence (or indeed absence) of insurance has absolutely no ­relevance to the key issue in ­personal injuries cases,' he said.
'…The test remains, has the employer failed to exercise ­reasonable care?'
Judge Twomey said Mr Keatley had been operating personally and not through a company when he was sued by Mr Lawless.
He said the accident took place on March 9, 2016, when Mr Lawless was cleaning out the horse boxes at Mr Keatley's stables at Rossmore Cottage Stables in The Curragh, Co. Kildare, and in particular when he was emptying a wheelbarrow onto a muck heap.
He said the muck heap was ­contained in a specially constructed three-sided structure, with concrete flooring and two-metre-high concrete walls.
Mr Lawless told the court that he suffered a back spasm, which led to an injury, when he pushed the wheelbarrow up an incline of soiled bedding and proceeded to tip out the wheelbarrow while it was on the incline.
The judge said Mr Lawless should have tipped the barrow out on the flat, and then thrown the muck up onto the higher mounds of soiled bedding with a fork or shovel.
He said it was also relevant to note that Mr Lawless had two horses of his own and was ­familiar with mucking out using a wheelbarrow and fork.
Judge Twomey said it was ­curious that the incline had not been mentioned in Mr Lawless' original legal papers, and that he had first claimed he was injured while pushing a heavy wheelbarrow and tipping out its contents into a dung heap.
Another stable hand, Paul ­Barrett, told the court that it would defy all logic for a person to go up an incline of soft muck and sawdust to empty a wheelbarrow, the judge said. It was common sense that the wheels would get stuck and that a person would have to lift the handles high into the air to empty it.
'Indeed, Mr Barrett put it most colourfully when he stated that attempting to empty a wheelbarrow on an incline of dung would require the 'strongest man in the world',' Judge Twomey said.
The judge said there were further inconsistencies in the medical notes, with one doctor reporting that the back pain followed a fall from a horse, while another said the back spasms occurred a few days after emptying a barrow – not at the time of the incident.
He concluded: 'It seems to this court that Mr Lawless' injury to his back, if it happened as a result of his emptying the wheelbarrow, was an unfortunate everyday mishap when doing the everyday task of emptying a wheelbarrow in the usual manner… and for which his employer has ­absolutely no liability.'
Judge Twomey said his preliminary view was that Mr Lawless should pay Mr Keatley's legal costs, but he said he would put the case in for mention in a week.