A Portuguese cleaner is set to get a $300,000 pay-out after Court of Appeal judges upheld a compensation ruling ending a ten year fight.

Antonio Fagundo, who is originally from the Azores, sued his employers for negligence after he slipped on a wet floor at work and won a Supreme Court ruling last October.

Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley found that Island Cleaning Services was liable for the accident because it should have supplied him with special safety shoes for the job he was doing — stripping wax from floors. Mr. Fagundo suffered damage to his wrist that left him with a 60 percent loss of movement in his left hand.

He was awarded $257,303 compensation for his injuries and loss of earnings which reflected what he could have earned up to the age of 65, but Island Cleaning Services contested the ruling through the Court of Appeal.

The appeal was heard last week, but in the ruling released this week, President of the Court of Appeal Edward Zacca dismissed the appeal and said: "In our view, there is no basis on which this court can properly interfere with the Judge's assessment of no contributory negligence on the part of Mr. Fagundo."

Yesterday, the 67-year-old said he was pleased at the outcome. "I am very happy that it's been dismissed because they had no proof. It seems to me it's the right way for it to be. I am happy it's over. My lawyer is working on the compensation."

Jai Pachai, Mr. Fagundo's lawyer said the total amount would now be in the region of $300,000 because the case had gone on for so long.

"My hope is that we will see the money really quickly from Island Cleaning through the lawyers. He's been battling over this for over ten years and it's nice to see a successful end to it for him."

In the judgement, Mr. Zacca said: "A brief consideration of the evidence and the findings of the judge demonstrates the soundness of his conclusion on primary liability, largely one of fact that Island Cleaning had and was in breach of a general duty of care to Mr. Fagundo in failing to provide him with and instruct him to use safety footwear when stripping paint from floors with a paint-stripping solution."

He added the footwear could have been purchased overseas at a low cost.

The judge said the company did not provide Mr. Fagundo with the special footwear and by working long hours — up to 70 to 80 hours a weeks — rendered him "vulnerable to occasional inattentiveness, error and a tendency to take the odd risk of slipping when going about his repetitive and brisk work".

Mr. Zacca also said the company knew about Mr Fagundo's almost fully-disabled right hand which made him vulnerable in the instance of a fall.

In the original hearing, Island Services maintained it was a mutual understanding that Mr Fagundo was responsible for his own footwear to work in, but Mr. Kawaley said there was no evidence that supported the claim.

Mr. Zacca said: "Mr. Fagundo's contractual obligation to select and provide his own working footwear could not, on its bare terms, exclude Island Cleaning's broad obligation, whether contractual or tortious, to provide him with a safe system of work."

As far as contributory negligence, the judge said; "It may be that Mr. Fagundo, if he had worked more slowly, could have ensured that he left no missed patch when applying the paint stripper to the section of floor in question and or could have dealt with the problem by allowing the recently applied stripper to dry and then returning to the missed patches.

"The reality was that such risk as he took in stepping back on to the slippery section of the floor was taken in the context of very long hours of repetitive work and in the interest of completing his work speedily and thoroughly in the interest of his employer.

"It was certainly on the evidence not in defiance of any instruction of policy of company to the contrary."

Mr. Zacca also said: "There is also the important factor that the judge rightly noted Mr. Fagundo was a migrant worker on a job-specific work permit and therefore vulnerable to loss of employment and of the right to remain in the country if he failed to retain the goodwill of his employer.

"He should not reasonably be condemned as blameworthy in his claim for damages for serious personal injury because he got on with his job albeit in a somewhat risky manner in the interest of his employer."

Mr. Fagundo has worked as a cleaner in Bermuda on and off since the mid-1970s and has family here.

He's been unable to work since his accident in September 2000 and received two years of $330-per-month disability allowance before his Government pension became payable at the age of 65.

The Court of Appeal panel also included Sir Austin Ward and Sir Robin Auld.

Island Cleaning was not available for comment.