Court of Appeal triples damages for widow of injured Freeport worker

A Court of Appeal has tripled the amount in damages to be awarded to the widow of a port worker who was injured in a work site accident over 15 years ago.  On Monday, Pawla Fenech, the widow of Carmel Fenech, was awarded over EUR106,000 in damages by the Court of Appeal. On August 4 2009, Carmel Fenech, a port worker at the Freeport, was unloading containers off MV Marguerite when he fell and suffered fractures in his leg and hurt his left heel.

At the time, Fenech was 52 years old and was wearing safety equipment provided by the Malta Dockers' Union. The man requested damages in two judicial letters, one addressed to Malta Freeport Terminals Ltd and CMA in July 2011. He then proceeded to sue the following year. 

However, he passed away on January 2, 2013. On May 16, 2019, the First Hall of the Civil Court held Malta Freeport Terminals Limited responsible for the injuries he had sustained and the disability he suffered due to those injuries. It had ordered Malta Freeport Terminals Ltd to pay the plaintiff EUR34,648.50 in damages.

Back then, his wife, who entered into the suit after he died, appealed the judgment, arguing that the amount was incorrect. In her appeal, she argued that tax and social security contributions should not have been deducted from the damages awarded and questioned whether there was a mistake in the calculation made by the first court. The Court of Appeal held that the court of first instance was wrong when deducting the income tax and the social security contributions from the compensation awarded, as this benefited the respondents and not the plaintiff.

On the calculation of the compensation, the Court of Appeal held that it should have been based for the period when he could not work, between August 5, 2009 and April 24, 2011, as well as for the period when he returned to work until his death, since Fenech suffered a disability from which he did not recover. The Court of Appeal held that the lump sum to be awarded to the widow as an heir should not be revised down, and this was not because the time taken for the proceedings to conclude was not to blame on the plaintiff, but because the lump sum was being awarded retroactively and not for future earnings. The Court of Appeal revoked the EUR34,648.50 in damages awarded by the first court, and instead awarded the widow EUR106,816.

Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti presided, alongside Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Anthony Ellul.