O'Brien v Manufacturing Engineering Company Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1974
• Date: 01 January 1974
• Docket Number: [1966. No. 601 P.]
• Court: Supreme Court

(S.C.)

O'Brien

and

Manufacturing Engineering Co. Ltd

Equality before the law - Limitation of actions - Workman - Accident causing injuries - Statutory right to compensation - Statute preserving right of action at common law - Alternative remedies - Exercise of option - Reduced period allowed for common-law action - Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934 (No. 9), s. 60 - Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) Act, 1953 (No. 25), s. 6 - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Articles 40, 45, 50.

The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934, made an employer liable to pay certain weekly sums of money to his workman if the latter suffered personal injuries by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, and if an order to that effect was made under the Act. Sub-section 1 of s. 60 of the Act of 1934 provided that nothing in the Act should affect any civil liability of the employer where an injury to his workman was caused by the negligence of the employer but that, in that case, the workman at his option might either claim compensation under the Act of 1934 or institute an action independently of that Act. Sub-section 2 of s. 60 enacted that nothing in sub-s. 1 should be construed to make an employer liable to pay compensation both independently of and also under the Act of 1934. Sub-section 6 of s. 60provided that the acceptance by a workman of payments made in accordance with the Act of 1934 should not prevent the workman from maintaining an action at common law provided that the action was instituted within 12 months from the date of the accident or, if there were substantial grounds for not having brought such action within that period, within 24 months from the date of the accident. Apart from the Act of 1934, an action claiming damages for personal injuries resulting from negligence was barred under the Statute of Limitations, 1957, after three years from the date when the cause of action accrued. Sub-section 6 had been added to s. 60 of the Act of 1934 by s. 6, sub-s. 1, of the Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) Act, 1953. On the 12th December, 1963, the plaintiff suffered injuries in an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with the defendants. Having received from the defendants some payments made in accordance with the Act of 1934, the plaintiff instituted in the High Court an action at common law and claimed damages for the alleged negligence of the defendants in respect of the accident. The action was commenced 26 months after...