WRULD DB-Claimant: Ms Catharine Long

Case	Task	Injury	Date	Court	Judgment for
Long - v - Pendragon plc	DSE use: data entry	RSI	29 Sep 2006	Reading County	Defendant

The precise circumstances in which this claim arose are unclear from the currently available reports of the Judgment (no official transcript of the Judgment is available). Mrs Long started working for the Defendant as a Purchase Ledger Clerk in December 1999, when she was in her late 50s. In June 2000, Mrs Long consulted her GP about a painful neck and a painful right hand. In March 2001, Mrs Long again went to her GP who recorded osteoarthritis - right thumb. Mrs Long's GP evidently diagnosed "RSI" at the end of March 2001.

Mrs Long is described as an experienced computer user who was well thought of by her employer and who worked very hard. In addition to keyboard work entering invoices, she evidently answered the telephone and wrote cheques. The "fundamental question" is reported as being how much computer input work she was doing. After reviewing the conflicting evidence relating to the number of invoices Mrs Long typically processed in a day, HH Judge Harris evidently concluded that she was not keying near the rate of a normal typist and that her low levels of keying made the alleged deficiencies in her workstation irrelevant.

Mrs Long's pleaded case evidently alleged that she had developed Repetitive Strain Injury of the right hand, but the available reports of the Judgment give few details of the medical issues that arose in the case. Mrs Long's claim appears to have failed because she did not establish negligence or breach of statutory duty. In summary, this case evidently turned on it own facts and appears to be of no particular consequence, other than to the parties involved.

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Last updated: 16/10/2009