A gardener left paralysed after he fell off a ladder while cutting back a tree to protect a couple’s tennis court has lost his bid for £1 million in compensation.
Barry Relph, 59, cracked his spine after toppling from a stepladder while cutting back the branches of a conifer at John and Joanna Meager’s £2.3 million Surrey home in January 2021. He suffered catastrophic damage to his spine, which left him paraplegic and wheelchair-bound.
He sued the Meagers for more than £1 million, arguing that a “few hundred pounds” spent on a trained tree surgeon would have saved him from injury.
Joanna and John Meager outside the High Court
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However, his claim for compensation was thrown out last week when Judge Andrew Kinnier KC ruled that Relph and a colleague were freelancers who “devised their own system of work” and had decided a specialist tree surgeon was not needed.
Relph claimed that John Meager, who is head of client operations at the investment management firm Coremont, was “concerned about birds defecating on the tennis court while perched in the conifers” at Oak Lodge in Chipstead, where the couple were living, the High Court heard.
Relph was using a mini-chainsaw to cut back branches at the property when a branch struck his stepladder, causing a disastrous “wobble”, his colleague said. The court was told that Relph has no memory of the accident.
His barrister, Stephen Killalea KC, told the judge: “Working with trees is a fundamentally hazardous activity and that’s why specialist contractors do the work. It should clearly have been conducted by a specialist. It might have cost several hundred pounds to have done so, but that’s the price it takes to maintain a property of that magnificence.”
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Lawyers for the Meagers argued that they could not be held liable for the accident because Relph was not their employee. They also denied any negligence.
On the issue of negligence, the judge found that both Relph and his colleague were experienced gardeners who provided their own equipment and “devised their own system of work”, including deciding the timing and execution of branch clearing.
“Both men were clear that the job didn’t require a specialist tree surgeon or any form of specialist assistance,” he said.
Also ruling against Relph on his employment status, the judge decided Relph and his colleague had worked as independent contractors, not as employees.
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The court heard that Relph worked at Oak Lodge for two years on a part-time basis whereby he provided his own tools and was free to work for others. He received his pay from his colleague, who was paid by the Meagers.
Judge Kinnier concluded: “Although I recognise this decision will come as a bitter disappointment for Mr Relph given the tragic consequences of his accident, on the basis of the evidence his claim must be dismissed.”
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