A settlement has been reached in the High Court case of a farmer who sued his former employer after his hand was crushed in a combine harvester.
The court heard today, Wednesday, July 24, that the claimant, Gearoid Hurley, of Bandon, Co. Cork, had reached a confidential settlement with the defendants, Mark Troy and Ardkeena Agri Services Ltd.
This was the fourth day of the hearing. Counsel for Hurley, Dr. John O’Mahony SC, told Mr. Justice Kevin Cross that the action had been resolved and the case could be struck out.
Judge Cross said that Hurley had suffered serious injuries “through no fault of his own”, and that he had made “remarkable efforts” to get back in the workplace. He added that he was sure that Hurley “will be a great success in the future” and that he could put this “horrific accident behind him”.
The case stems from an incident in September 2016, when Hurley was allegedly asked to manually unclog grain from the harvester, in what he described as “dangerous and hazardous circumstances”.
He went on to tell the court that the harvester was activated in circumstances “in which injury was likely to be caused”.
The defendants had denied these claims throughout the duration of the case.
The court was told that, as a result of his injury, his right hand was compromised, preventing him from working as a dairy farmer.
He said that he had been in line to inherit the family dairy farm before the accident, which has now been instead taken over by his sister.
Hurley has since taken over an outside tillage farm near Cork Airport.