WRULD DB-Defendant: The Thomas Cook Group Ltd

Case Date Court Claimant Task Injury Judgment for
Bagdu - v - The Thomas Cook Group Ltd 12 Aug 2000 Brighton County Bagdu DSE use: cashier Arm & Hand injury, Unspecified Claimant

Kym Bagdu sought damages for personal injury to her arm and hand, which initially arose in 1992, allegedly caused by her work as a Foreign Exchange Cashier up to June 1994. The lengthy Judgment of HH Judge Kennedy QC gives the impression that this was another case in which the claim evolved during the hearing, focussing more on counting money than DSE use as the primary cause of her alleged injury. However, the precise nature of the alleged injury is also unclear from the Judgment. Indeed, at one point in his Judgment, HH Judge Kennedy QC says:

Does the Court have to be able to attach a medically acceptable diagnostic label to this condition, before deciding either that it existed or that it was caused in the way I have described?

After reviewing the medical evidence at length and having considered the House of Lords Judgment in Pickford -v- Imperial Chemical Industries plc and the Court of Appeal Judgment in Alexander & Others -v- Midland Bank plc, HH Judge Kennedy QC rejects the Defendant's assertion that "in the absence of a specific and clearly identifiable diagnosis causation cannot be established" and finds that:

Provided the injuries or symptoms are real; and provided they are - or were when they influenced and largely caused the Claimant to give up work; provided they are consistent with the effects of her work and no other consistent cause exists, the move to causation is in this Court's view a natural one and, on the facts in this case, inevitable.

There is reference in the Judgment to a risk assessment of the type required by the DSE Regulations, but no explicit reference to alleged breaches of DSE Regulations or to any findings in respect of statutory duties. However, there is a finding of negligence resulting in Judgment in favour of the Claimant.

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Last updated: 27/03/2014