Court orders African Foundries Limited to pay ex-employee N70million as damages for loss of leg while on duty

The National Industrial Court, Uyo division has ordered African Foundries Limited to pay the sum of N70 million as damages to Monday Ishmael for the loss of his leg while working for the firm.

Justice Mahmood Namtari gave the order on Wednesday while delivering judgement on the matter.

Mr Ishmael had claimed to be an employee of the firm who lost his leg during the cause of his duty.

Back story

According to Mr Ishmael, he was an employee of the firm who worked in the scrap unit and was paid daily.
On January 13, 2017, while he was working, a pipe fell from a truck and shattered his right leg and the firm did not give him proper or adequate medical care as required.
He averred that the firm took him to a hospital from which his elder brother subsequently moved him to another hospital where he will get better treatment.
He said a week after, the firm made him sign and collect the sum of N600,000.00 cash including N200,000.00 earlier given for transportation as full and final settlement of all claims and compensation for his injury.
He averred that the amount given to him by the firm was inadequate given the fact that at the time of the industrial accident he was a little over 22 years of age and has to live the rest of his life permanently disabled.
He, therefore, prayed the court to grant his relief sought.
In defence, the Defendant (African Foundry Limited) denied that the claimant was its employee saying it did not have a scrap unit.
It submitted that the claimant was one of the persons who loaf about the gate of companies seeking to provide cheap labour for some contractors and was never engaged or employed to do any job for the firm on the said date.
The firm argued that the premises where the incident happened was occupied by several companies and it is very difficult to say which of the companies own the truck that caused the accident.
According to the firm, out of compassion and part of its corporate social responsibility, it took the claimant to a clinic in Port Harcourt and paid N800,000.00 as full and final compensation and this is in addition to the payment of N120,000.00 as transport given to him.
The firm contended that the claimant contributed to his woes when his brother removed him from the clinic on the said January 13, 2017, to another state for better treatment only to take him to a local bone healer.
According to the firm, that act was contributory negligence which will also vest the liability on the Claimant. They, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the case in its entirety.
Counsel to the claimant, Godwin Effiong Esq in opposition to the submissions of the firm, contended that the inability of the firm to tender the List or Nominal Roll of her staffers on the day of the incident will lead to the inference that tendering the Nominal Roll would have been detrimental to the firm.
The lawyer noted that if the firm had taken the claimant to a bone treatment hospital at the beginning of the injury, the Claimant’s leg wouldn’t have been amputated.
Consequently, he urged the court to award damages in full both as punitive, exemplary, and special and general to assuage the long-suffering that his client has been exposed to all the days of his life on earth.

What the judge ruled

After listening to submissions and arguments from both parties in the suit, the Court held that the company is liable for negligence in the incident that led to the amputation of the claimant’s leg at the prime age of 22 and the burden on the firm on explanation or rebuttal remains not discharged.

Justice Namtari held that conduct of the firm all along has shown the existence of an employment relationship with Mr Ishmael, and that a contract of employment can be oral or by conduct.

The judge said “I also don’t believe that these payments were made out of the so-called pressure or intimidation by people supporting the Claimant after the accident or as a contribution by concerned companies.
“The burden on the Defendant remains not discharged particularly against my earlier finding and holding that there is in existence an employment relationship between the Claimant and the Defendant. The result is that the defendant is liable for negligence by the application of Res ipsa loquitur in this case. I so hold.”
Consequently, the Judge ordered the firm to pay Mr Ishmael the sum of N70,000,000.00 (Seventy Million Naira) as damages for the loss of his leg while working for the firm on January 13, 2017, and N500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) cost of action within 30 days.