A former IT boss has received more than £500,000 in damages after banging his head on a doorframe at work.
Stephen Long, from Norwich, sued his ex-employers Elegant Resorts Ltd after sustaining what he described as a “traumatic brain injury” while at the company offices at Old Palace in Chester in March 2015.
The 48-year-old said he’d gone to help a colleague lift a large and awkward item when he struck his head against a dome-shaped doorframe in the cellar.
He continued working but claimed he felt unusually sleepy in the following days and was later admitted to hospital.
He attempted to return to work in April 2015 but only lasted a few hours, and was subsequently told he was to be made redundant from his £50,000-a-year job the following month.
Mr Long appealed redundancy on the grounds of disability discrimination, and Elegant Resorts was said to have settled the claim by paying £5,575 to Mr Long on terms that were expressed to be “without admission of liability”.
Earlier this year, a seven-day-High Court trial heard Mr Long “remains unfit to work at the level that he did prior to his accident”.
The court also heard he was most recently employed as a part-time gardener at a National Trust property on a fraction of his previous salary.
In its defence statement, Elegant Resorts said it was “sceptical as to both the accuracy and the honesty of the (Mr Long’s) account relating to the accident and its aftermath”.
The travel company admitted liability for injuries caused by the accident, but said this was no more than a bump to the head of a kind that people suffer regularly and which has led to no long-term consequences at all.
But the judge concluded that Mr Long had likely not exaggerated his symptoms.
Judge Pearce said he was satisfied that Mr Long suffered significant injuries and that he had not been guilty of fundamental dishonesty.
Mr Long was awarded total damages of £509,957, including £298,379 for future loss of earnings.
