A young man who signed up in this country to work as a seasonal farmworker abroad but who suffered catastrophic injuries when his arm was sucked into a combine harvester on a New Zealand farm, has been awarded €3.4 million by the High Court.
Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds said the young farmer Padraig Lowry, whose arm was amputated to four inches below his right elbow had suffered a lifelong, life-altering and disabling injury when he was 22.
The injuries she said have had devastating and life-changing consequences for him and his ability to run the 251-acre family farm in Co Laois has been significantly impaired.
Padraig Lowry, now 29, of Cappalinnan, Rathdowney, Co Laois, had sued Daryl Thompson of Invercargill, New Zealand and D.Thompson Contracting Ltd, also of Invercargill, New Zealand, as a result of the incident in January 2015.
Mr Lowry had been trying to deal with an oats blockage in the combine harvester chute when his arm was sucked into the moving parts of the machine.
The Irish High Court had been asked to assess damages in the case, where judgement had already been granted in default of appearance by the New Zealand side.
Mr Lowry’s solicitor, Margaret Cordial, of Smithwicks Solicitors, Kilkenny, will now have to seek to have the €3.4 million judgement of the Irish High Court enforced in New Zealand.
The court previously heard how the 22-year-old had met a representative of the New Zealand company in a Co Meath hotel and was offered a job to start in October 2014.
Three months later the incident occurred on the rural New Zealand farm and the court heard Irish coworkers used their belts to tourniquet Mr Lowry’s arm, which was pumping blood.
Just five hours after the incident, Mr Lowry was airlifted to hospital, the court heard the harvester was released to continue the work on the farm at Dipton, Southland.
Ms Justice Reynolds said it was clear from the evidence that the contract of employment was entered between Mr Lowry and the New Zealand company in Co Meath.
“He is now left with a permanent disability and will require ongoing medical care. He has suffered and continues to suffer significant pain and discomfort at the site of the injury. His ability to carry out his farming duties has been curtailed and he requires specialised machinery to carry out heavy-duty activities,” the judge said.
She added: “His quality of life has been significantly impaired, and he has been precluded from returning to many of his pre-accident recreational activities.”
In the proceedings, it was claimed it was an express or implied term of the contract that Mr Lowry would be provided with a safe place of work, a safe system of work and safe equipment and machinery.
It was claimed he was required to operate a machine that was dangerous and defective and the blades on the machine were allegedly permitted to be blunt, which it is claimed resulted in the crop being cut too long and therefore blocking the chute.
It was also claimed the wind-down alarm on the machine was disconnected or not operating so as to warn Mr Lowry that the blades were still moving.
