A court decision has sounded a warning note to negligence victims that delaying too long before going to solicitors can wreck any hope of compensation. An industrial worker who claimed that his hearing had been destroyed by machinery noise had left it too late to sue, the Court of Appeal ruled.

The man alleged that, whilst employed by an engineering company between 1977 and 2004, exposure to the din of grinders, cutting equipment, compressors and hammer drills had left him almost deaf. However, he did not seek help from solicitors until long after the event and only issued his damages claim in 2011.

Whilst accepting that the man’s claim had been lodged well outside the three-year time limit that normally applies in personal injury cases, a judge had exercised his discretion to allow his case to proceed. He was ultimately awarded £3,375 in damages.

In allowing the company’s appeal and stripping the man of his award, the Court noted that the company had been dissolved before the claim was issued and many of its records had been destroyed. Its ability to defend itself had thus been gravely prejudiced and the overriding requirement to do justice meant that the man’s claim should be struck out for delay.