Privy Council upholds judge’s decision in compensation case

THE Privy Council has reversed a judgment of the Court of Appeal and has upheld High Court Judge Peter Jamadar’s ruling on an issue of compensation for injuries sustained on the job. The lawlords ruled that an injured worker can claim compensation for injuries, and not be barred by a one-year limit to sue privately for damages. Delivered last week Friday, five lawlords ruled that Jamadar was correct in ruling that an employer must complete paying the whole sum entitled to workmen’s compensation, and thenceforth the one-year limit for suing in the High Court commences.

Judgment was delivered in favour of Ancil Allsop of Mayaro, an employee of State-owned Petrotrin. Employed as a rigger on a platform, Allsop fell off a height of 30 feet from a platform on the east coast of Trinidad. The incident occurred on October 20, 1995, and Allsop sustained severe back injuries. He was medically listed as having permanent partial disability. On December 19, 1995, Petrotrin began to make weekly payments to Allsop. He received $72,139. However, three years after the incident, in April 1998, Allsop sued Petrotrin for damages for personal injuries. Petrotrin countered that his claim was barred by Section 4 (3) of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. It barred an injured worker from filing a lawsuit against an employer after one year has elapsed “from the date on which the case of action accrued.”

Allsop sued two years after the one-year stipulated period, but Jamadar ruled that Allsop had only received partial workmen’s compensation payments. The judge held that Petrotrin ought to have completed paying the full sum before the one-year stipulated period in Section 4 (3) took effect. Petrotrin appealed Jamadar’s judgment and the Court of Appeal took the contrary view. Appeal Court judges ruled that Allsop was barred from suing for personal damages because one year lapsed, from the date the worker began to receive compensation. Allsop appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and the Law Lords struck down the Appeal Court’s decision and restored Jamadar’s ruling. Senior Counsel Alvin Fitzpatrick, Douglas Mendes SC, attorney Ted Roopnarine, instructed by Shawn Roopnarine, represented Allsop.

The five Law Lords — Nicholls of Birkenhead; Rodger of Earlsferry; Walker of Gestinghorpe; Baroness Hale of Richmond; and Sir Andrew Leggatt —delivered a unanimous written seven-page judgment. They stated, “It would perhaps be surprising if Parliament had intended this short time-bar (one year) to apply irrevocably simply because the workman had received even one payment, however small, by way of compensation under the Act. More generally, a construction of Section 4 (3) which has the potential effect is unattracted because it is so obviously capable of producing substantial injustice.” The Law Lords noted on page seven of the judgment that their ruling would encourage employers to pay injured employees their lump sum compensation “sooner rather than later.”