NEWSFRONT – Legal Opinion – Stroke of Engineer – Labour Accident?

A chief engineer suffered a stroke during his employment and sued for labour accident damages. The Court found there was no violent occurrence which resulted in the stroke; it also found the engineer’s overall health condition, which was irrelevant to his employment onboard, was already burdened, and in addition, he was a heavy smoker.

Accordingly, the Court found no labour accident had taken place and the claim was rejected.

Piraeus membered Court of Appeal Judgement no 469/2017, Judge: A. Theofanis, Attorneys at Law: I. Palios, N. Agelopoulou, Maritime Law Review vol, 46, p.222

NOTE: Labour accidents are always judged on the merits of the case. The same occurrence might have a different background. If the stroke under consideration, had occurred under distressed circumstances, the judgement could be different.