Personal Injury news & Compensation Claim info

A retired manager who worked at a hospital in Birmingham has been awarded a £307,550 compensation payout and will receive a further £24,000 every year for the rest of his life because he claims he suffered stress at his job.

The former NHS employee, who retired in 1996 and whose work was mainly office-based, filed a compensation claim through the NHS Injury Benefit Scheme, which provides compensation to staff who have suffered injury or disability as a result of their work.

The Department of Health has now ordered the Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust to make the payment. The trust had previously been fighting the compensation, disputing that they were not responsible for paying the large sum.

A director for the trust expressed that the payout does not relate to physical personal injury or a workplace accident.

A former police officer has been told that he does not qualify for a lump-sum payment in compensation after an incident which left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

South Wales Police dog handler Mark Pugh, 50, became severely depressed and suicidal after he was attacked by a mob of fans at the trouble-hit FA Cup tie between Cardiff City and Leeds United in 2002.

Mr Pugh has already won his claim for a disability pension, but has been denied a lump-sum compensation claim because although he has been categorised as 100% disabled, the South Wales Police Authority believe that he is not unable to work at all.

“Applications for these payments are very rare because only officers who have suffered 100% disability which is permanent are entitled to them,” explained a spokesperson for the authority.

Nigel Daniel, Mr Pugh’s solicitor, said his client has been treated “appallingly” and believes that the authority has made an “incorrect decision.”

Mr Pugh was in the news recently when it was revealed that South Wales Police spent over £100,000 on Operation Thames, a surveillance operation where almost a dozen officers from South Wales Police and the neighbouring Dyfed-Powys force were used to spy on him for months. This was an attempt by the authority to see if he was faking his disability and therefore deny him of his disability pension.

A family whose young son died in 1997 after receiving “incorrect treatment” from the boy’s doctor have received compensation and an apology from a Leicester hospital.

Three-year-old Ryan Pitcher, who was being treated for epilepsy, died after being given the wrong medication by Dr Andrew Holton. An initial investigation could not find a link between the actions of the doctor and Ryan’s death. However his parents pursued a lengthy legal battle and after later investigations, University of Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust admitted liability for its medical negligence.

The report also found that Dr Holton misdiagnosed hundreds of other children during a period of ten years at the hospital.

Simon and Diane Pitcher from Heather, near Coalville, Leicestershire, have now received an compensation, the amount of which has not been disclosed. It is believed that around £3m has been paid by the trust to children incorrectly diagnosed by Dr Holton.

“On the basis of expert evidence, the trust accepts that Ryan’s treatment and medication were incorrect,” a hospital spokesperson said.

“The trust is deeply sorry for what has happened and has made an unreserved apology to Ryan’s parents.”

A woman from Warwickshire who is seeking a compensation claim against her late father’s workplace has been told that she is not eligible for compensation as a result of a legal loophole.

Judith Tomlinson, 58, from Baginton near Coventry, has mesothelioma, a fatal asbestos-related cancer. She strongly believes that her father’s work overalls and company van could be responsible for how she contracted the disease.

Roland Adcock, Mrs Tomlinson’s father, was a foreman at construction firm Mason McCabe, based in Acocks Green, Birmingham, from 1958 to 1982. It is believed that he was exposed to asbestos when he worked on a contract in Castle Bromwich.

Despite the evidence, Mrs Tomlinson has been denied compensation because the company her father worked for has since closed down.

The current law allows workers suffering from industrial illnesses and injuries to claim compensation from their employers. If their firm has shut down, suffering workers can still file a claim against the firm’s insurers. However family and loved ones who have also been affected can only currently claim from a current firm.

Mrs Tomlinson’s solicitors have expressed that they are continuing to seek compensation for their client.

“We will continue to fight for compensation for Judith but at the present time the law is different for secondary victims – namely people who were not employees of the company using asbestos,” explained Alida Coates at Irwin Mitchell solicitors.

Costs for NHS negligence have increased dramatically by almost a quarter in just one year. The NHS spent around £800 million last year after a sharp rise in those seeking compensation.

The NHS’s Litigation Authority shows that maternity services are those most targeted for compensation claims. Poor maternity care in London is costing the NHS £27m a year alone, which amounts to a third of the bill for all compensation claims in the capital.

Claims include a five-day-old baby who died after a number of mistakes at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. The fact that the baby was upside-down in the womb went unnoticed and staff continued to use the wrong forceps for the procedure. Although the baby was put on a life-support machine, she died shortly after. Her parents, Katherine and Ben Harman, from Battersea, were awarded £50,000 in compensation, but regret that their daughter “could still be alive” if it weren’t for the errors made by the hospital.

Another payment of £600,000 was made to the widow of Jessica Palmer, 34, who died shortly after giving birth at Kingston Hospital in 2002. The hospital admitted liability for her death after admitting they had failed to notice that she was suffering from blood poisoning.

In the case of higher payouts, for example botched births leaving infants disabled, a more structured payout is awarded, compensating them for the care that they will need to receive through their lives.

Official records show that across the NHS, 3,645 patients died of infections contracted whilst in hospital, mistakes whilst undergoing surgery and other medical errors in 2007/2008. This figure was up 60% from two years previously, but it has been reported that figures could be even higher. However, when it comes to compensation for these mistakes, it seems that claimants may be missing out. Figures show that £143m, nearly a fifth of the overall figure paid out, went to lawyers rather than to the victims’ families. It has been claimed that some “no win – no fee” companies are touting for business in A&E waiting rooms across the country.

The Conservative Health spokesman, Mark Simmonds, stated that “we need a robust and fair way for patients who have received negligent treatment in an NHS hospital to get the treatment they deserve. Instead, we have an inefficient system which incurs vast legal costs for NHS trusts.”

A disabled student is set to receive £9,000 in compensation from the US fashion chain Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) because of the discrimination she suffered due to her prosthetic arm. Riam Dean, 22, from Greenford in Middlesex, resigned from her job at the Central London store after her prosthesis was deemed unsavoury by its “visual team” and was asked to work in the stockroom instead of on the shop floor.

Miss Dean, who is currently studying law at university, was awarded the compensation when she took her case to a UK employment tribunal, who have sited wrongful dismissal by the company. She was born without a left forearm and told those in the court that “I never let my disability get in the way of living a fulfilled life. I do not want special treatment.”

The student has stated that she made the disability known to her employers after accepting the role and was told she would be able to wear a cardigan on the shop floor. However she was later informed that the cardigan breached the “looks policy” of the store and she was instead assigned to the stockroom until the store’s winter uniform arrived.

The company have released a statement saying that the tribunals findings were based “on the events of a single day” and that these “were not at all representative of Dean’s overall employment with A&F.”

In 2004, A&F spent nearly $50 million to settle claims for discrimination in the US.

Broken down, Miss Dean was awarded £7,800 compensation for injury to her feelings, £1,077 in lost earnings and £138 for wrongful dismissal.

The biological father of Baby Peter has lodged a compensation claim against Haringey Council for failing to protect his son.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is seeking £200,000 in compensation, although he could be able to claim twice as much according to legal experts. He has taken early retirement from work since his son’s death in 2007.

The personal injury claim is bad news for Haringey Council, who are also facing a multimillion pound compensation payout to the six carers who lost their jobs for failing to protect the toddler. The former staff claim they were unfairly dismissed for gross misconduct and are appealing against the council’s decision to sack them.

Sharon Shoesmith, the former head of children’s services, was sacked last December. She could be in line to receive the highest amount of compensation if her claim is successful, at around £1 million. If all six of the carers’ claims are successful, the council could be forced to pay out a maximum of £1.4m.

Peter Connelly was 17 months old when he died in his home after months of abuse from his mother Tracey Connelly, 28, and her lover Steven Baker, 33, whose identities have only recently revealed to the public after a court order granting them anonymity expired. A third defendant, Jason Owen, 37, Baker’s brother, was also named.

Personal injury claims have increased even though the number of people hurt in road traffic accidents has dropped by 8%, recent studies have shown. Compensation claims have risen dramatically from £8.8 billion in 2006 to £9.6 billion this year.

There has been some speculation that the lower casualties are a result of the current economic climate; with high petrol prices, there are less cars on British roads. This could also explain the rise in personal injury claims, with some people resorting to their accidents for financial gain.

The director of AA Insurance, Simon Douglas, has stated that these figures suggest that “those involved in accidents are much more inclined to make personal injury claims, even for non-serious injuries such as minor whiplash cured by painkillers over a couple of days.”

Last year, there were on average 1,300 whiplash claims each day. It can only be expected that personal injury claims will be significantly higher for this year.

A woman in Scotland has launched a legal bid to sue her local authority after enduring years of bullying at school, claiming that not enough was done to help or protect her from her abusers.

Rhona Wands, now 22, has alleged that teachers and management at Fife Council ignored her torment at Markinch Primary School and Auchmuty High School. She insists the ongoing abuse – which started at the age of four – forced her to leave school early and obtain tuition at home.

Miss Wands is now seeking compensation for the physical injuries and emotional harm she suffered during her school years as well as the effect the bullying had on her academic achievements.

The claimant and her parents argue that no action was taken against the pupils who bullied her, regardless of several written complaints and numerous meetings with the headmaster at Markinch Primary.

Her parents claim that their daughter would return home from school having suffered various injuries, including scratches, pulled hair and even bruises from beatings. In one instance, when Auchmuty High appointed an older pupil as a “befriender” to look after her, the protector led the girl into an ambush where she was attacked by a gang of girls.

Lawyers for Fife Council argue that the authority dealt with every allegation properly, both directly and through its employees. They also insist that Miss Wands was “a part of the problem” and behaved disobediently to staff.

Sheriff George Way has suggested that the case is suitable for counsel and has called for a further court hearing to take place at a later date.

According to recent research, the number of children injured in road accidents during the morning rush hour has decreased significantly, from 344 between January to June 2008 to 228 in the same months this year. It has been suggested that this may be due to the current recession.

David Green, the chief executive of MTA, specialist lawyers in personal injury, has stated that “the school run is one of the most dangerous times of the day to drive.” With parents fearing for their children’s safety – if they were left to walk to school alone – many parents had included the school run in their morning routine before racing the traffic on their own way to work. Driving under pressure and while distracted had increased the amount of road accidents during the morning hours.

As fuel prices increase within the economic climate, many parents have now been forced to tighten the purse strings. This has led to a considerable number of parents walking their children to school instead.

The most recent figures from the Department of Transport have revealed that the number of children killed or suffering serious personal injury has decreased by 9% on the previous year.