€8,000 Garda work injury compensation has been awarded at the High Court to Garda Ronan Leonard in relation to a soft tissue shoulder injury which he suffered as part of his required work duties.
This was substantially lower than the €20,000 personal injury damages originally sought in the action. Garda Ronan Leonard submitted the injury compensation claim against the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform after he sustained the injury when he fell on July 11, 2014, while chasing a suspect.
Due the injuries that he suffered, Garda Leonard decided to go to an out of hours doctor service and, following this, was treated at an A&E hospital department. X-rays revealed that, luckily, he had experienced no fractures. He was allowed to return home with a course of painkillers and anti-inflammatories, but was not allowed to return to work for five days.
As he was still experiencing constant pain, on July 21 Garda Leonard made an appointment with his family GP. The Doctor diagnosed him as having a sprain to the joint at the top of his shoulder and given an injection of steroid anti-inflammatories. As there was no improvement in his condition this course of treatment was repeated in October 2014.
Garda Leonard, the court was told, has now a full recovery from the soft tissue injury and has never made a previous workplace injury claim under the Garda Compensation Acts.
Counsel for Garda Leonard said that Garda he should receive workplace injury compensation of €20,000 based on the Book of Quantum recommendations. In spite of this, the court ruled that the proper compensation award was €8000, plus another €60 agreed special damages.
The Judge remarked in his ruling that the compensation award was properly €8,000 due to the recent binding decisions made by the Court of Appeal for personal injury cases. This decision stated damages awards be lowered in certain personal injury actions of roughly 45-50 per cent must be applied.
The judge also said, in his remarks, that he felt that €8,000 personal injury compensation was appropriate in this case for to Garda Leonard and proportionate to the injury suffered.