Combine harvester damages award upheld by Supreme Court

An agricultural machinery company has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay out some €470,000 arising from a young man’s action over serious injuries suffered while trying to clear a blockage in a combine harvester.

The three-judge court unanimously upheld findings of negligence against John Deere Ltd (JDL) in designing, manufacturing and selling a combine harvester, model 6810, which the court found was subject to a design fault relating to the location of the opening designed for clearance of blockages.

Denis Scollard was aged 22 in 1995 when the fingers of his left hand were crushed while he was trying to clear a grass blockage in the machine.

Mr Scollard sued his then employers, agricultural contractors Thomas and William Wright, who settled that case for €430,000. The Wrights then sued AIB Finance & Leasing and Geary’s Garage Ltd which respectively leased and supplied the harvester to them and those defendants in turn sought an indemnity from JDL as manufacturer and supplier of the harvester.

After the High Court ruled they were entitled to that indemnity, JDL appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s findings of negligence by JDL in designing, manufacturing and selling a combine harvester with a design defect.

The judgment agreed with the High Court that Mr Scolland’s injuries were a foreseeable consequence of that negligence and ruled JDL must pay the €430,000 secured by Mr Wright, plus legal costs.