The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, is to appeal to the Supreme Court against a judgment yesterday in which an ex-soldier with between 0.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent hearing loss received £30,000 in damages.
The High Court award by Judge Johnson reverses another High Court judgment last week over the criteria for measuring hearing loss and increases the levels of payments by a factor of 10.
Yesterday's judgment effectively stops plans by the Minister to set up a hearing compensation board and revives the prospect of a total compensation bill to the State of £2 billion.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Smith said he learned with "surprise and disappointment" the decision by Mr Justice Johnson to award the £30,000 in damages to ex-Private John Curran (36) who served from 1979 to 1985.
Mr Smith said the judgment contrasts with a previous High Court ruling by Mr Justice Lavan which accepted the "Green Book" hearing disability system and awarded a 59-year-old claimant with 2 per cent handicap and 35 years service £3,000.
"While today's judgment is still being studied, a preliminary examination suggests that if this scale of compensation is applied generally, the total cost of settling the Army deafness cases at present on hand will be in the order of £2 billion."
He acknowledged that his plan to establish a compensation board and settle all cases at the lower quantum set in Mr Lavan's case is now on hold. He said yesterday's judgment will be appealed to the Supreme Court and another test case is now necessary before the High Court.
In yesterday's case evidence was given by an ear nose and throat consultant on behalf of the State that the plaintiff was suffering a 0.9 per cent hearing loss. A specialist for the plaintiff put the hearing loss higher, at 2.9 per cent.
On this basis the court awarded Mr Curran £30,000 which would appear to re-establish the old guideline of a £15,000 payment per percentage point hearing loss. The judgment last week by Mr Justice Lavan established the "Green Book" criteria for measuring hearing loss and set a compensation guide at £1,500 per percentage point hearing loss.
Of the 11,000 claims lodged with the High Court by serving or retired military personnel, about 23 per cent are from those with around zero hearing loss and about 50 per cent have under 5 per cent hearing loss. Based on yesterday's judgment these men will receive between £15,000 and £75,000 for alleged hearing levels which would be judged normal in other countries.
A Government expert source yesterday pointed out that these impairment levels should be compared with the fact that, with a 17 per cent hearing loss, it is difficult to hear a whispered sentence.
Last evening the Department of Defence had already begun work in reassembling the international team of experts who gave evidence in the test case brought before Mr Justice Lavan which led to last week's £3,000 award. That judgment raised hopes in the Department that the total cost of settling the outstanding claims could be reduced to between £200 million and £300 million. Even at that level, the Minister pointed out that "economies" would still have to be made in the Defence budget to defray the costs. These economies, it is understood, would include the closure of some barracks.
Yesterday's judgment was welcomed by the staff association representing non-commissioned soldiers. Mr John Lucey, general secretary of the Permanent Defence Forces Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA), accused the Minister of mounting a "public relations campaign" about the total costs and said that even at the level of yesterday's award the total cost to the State would be "£500 million or even as low as £200 million."