JUTC to pay $16 million to former employee injured on the job

The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) Limited is to pay one of its former auto mechanics a Supreme Court award of more than $16 million with interest for injuries she sustained on the job.

She reportedly slipped and fell in oil spilled in a poorly lit pit at a garage at the Portmore Depot, in St Catherine in October 2016.

Josette Mills-McLarty, who suffered spinal injuries as a result of the fall, sued the company in 2018 seeking damages. The matter was set down for assessment of damages.

The claimant, who was represented by attorney-at-law Clifton Campbell, instructed by Archer Cummings and Co., said she ceased working with the company in August 2019 because of the injuries.

Justice Andrea Pettigrew-Collins assessed damages and made an award last month of more than $23 million in damages but reduced the amount by 30 per cent on account of the claimant's contributory negligence. The defendant is to pay 70 per cent legal costs to the claimant.

The judge found that on the evidence presented before the court, the claimant had on a balance of probabilities, established some of the allegations of negligence and breaches of the Employers Liability Act and the Occupiers Liability Act as were set out in the particulars of claim.

“The evidence as it stood at the end of the case regarding the lighting in the pit, was that there was one bulb that was working although the area was made to accommodate four bulbs,” the Judge said. The judge found that the lighting provided was inadequate, therefore, it was established that the defendant failed to provide a safe place of work.

In handing down the ruling, the judge said she rejected the evidence of one of the witnesses for the defendant that the bulb was fully functional and accepted the evidence of the claimant that there were two buses over the pit at the time and the bulb was not fully lit.

“My finding is that the area was not sufficiently lit,” the judge ruled. The judge said further that from the evidence, it emerged the claimant saw the oil on the floor of the pit, prior to the fall.

The defendant, which was represented by attorney-at-law Leslie Campbell, instructed by attorney-at-law Kimberlee Dobson, had admitted that it was an expressed and or implied term of the contract of employment to provide a safe place of work for the claimant.

The company stated that it discharged its duty by maintaining a procedure for the daily cleaning of the pit by the janitorial staff and also ensured the use of protective equipment by all employees, including the claimant.

The defendant in its amended defence contended that the claimant was negligent by failing to take adequate care while walking through the pit and denied that the pit was poorly lit.

The judge referred to the medical evidence that the claimant was suffering from thoracic spine impairment of two per cent and lumbar spine impairment of 21 per cent of the whole person. She has several physical difficulties, which include walking and standing, and needed additional surgery.

The claimant was awarded $6.2 million for cost of future medical care; special damages of $708,771 with interest at three per cent per annum from October 14, 2016 to the date of the judgment; $1.7 million for loss of earnings; $4 million for loss of future earnings; and $10.5 million with interest at three per cent per annum from September 19, 2018 for  general damages for pain and suffering and loss of amenities.

-Barbara Gayle

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