Galway County Council v Galway Board of Health

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 30 July 1931
• Date: 30 July 1931
• Court: Supreme Court (Irish Free State)

S. C., I.F.S.

Galway County Council

and

County of Galway Board of Health and Public Assistance

Compensation paid by employer - Claim by employer to indemnity -"Legal liability in some person other than the employer" - Injury to servant of County Council by servant of Board of Health - Relation of Board of Health to County Council - Statutory agency - Whether action for indemnity maintainable -Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906 (6 Ed. 7, c. 58), s. 6 - Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 9 of 1923) -Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925), ss. 9, 10, 12, 14.

A workman employed by the Galway County Council during the course of his employment was knocked down and injured by a motor ambulance, the property of the Galway Board of Health and Public Assistance. By s. 10 of the Local Government Act, 1925, the powers and duties of a County Council as sanitary authority are to be exercised by the Board of Health and Public Assistance. The injured workman claimed and was awarded compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, against the Galway County Council. The County Council, alleging that the injury to their workman was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability in the Galway Board of Health and Public Assistance, brought an action against that Board, claiming a declaration that they were entitled to be indemnified by that Board, pursuant to the provisions of s. 6 (2) of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906. Held that, under s. 6 (2) of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, the employer's right is not one to be indemnified against all sums that, as events turn out, have to be paid by him as compensation under the Act, but the sub-section leaves all questions as to the right to...