Ex-Lidl worker who claims he hurt his back while lifting 20kg bag of onions settles case

A worker at Lidl supermarket who sued claiming he pulled his back lifting a 20kg bag of onions has settled his High Court action.

Darius Pobog Gadzinski (aged 57) claimed he has had chronic back pain and has not worked since the accident five years ago when he attempted to move the bag of onions from a pallet two metres high.

Mr Gadzinski, Killegland Hall, Ashbourne, Co. Meath had sued his then employer Lidl Ireland as a result of the accident in the Ashbourne store on October 24, 2014.

He claimed there was an alleged failure to instruct him or his fellow employees in the correct operational procedures for the safe carrying out of his duties. It was further claimed Mr Gadzinski was permitted to carry an object so heavy as to be likely to cause him injury.

The claims were denied.

On the second of the hearing today, Mr Justice Michael Hanna was told the case had been settled.

Mr Gadzinski had started working for Lidl in Ashbourne in April 2008, as a store assistant and packer.

His job was to start early in the morning, and to help fill the shelves with products before the store opened to the public.

Opening the case, his senior counsel, Rónón Dolan, said on the day of the accident Mr Gadzinski had wheeled out a shrink-wrapped pallet from the warehouse to the store, which was around two metres high.

Loosely placed on top of the pallet was a bag containing 20 individual 1kg bags of onions, he said.

"He had no choice but to be standing on his tip-toes when he reached up with both hands to lift off the bag," Mr Dolan said.

"Such was the weight, that he will describe feeling a pull or drag in his back, as it wrenched his back downwards as he placed it on the ground," Counsel said.

Mr Dolan said Mr Gadzinski reported the accident, and then went home and took some painkillers. He then tried to return to work, but the pain was too great and he finished early, he said.

Mr Gadzinski attended his GP and a local medical centre and received pain killing injections, as well as physiotherapy, the court heard.

Scans revealed that he will require surgery at two points in his spine to help cure the resulting chronic pain, Mr Dolan said.