Dave McGowan, 41, was looking for and collecting fossils with his girlfriend along the shoreline at Seatown, near Bridport in Dorset, when rocks fell from the cliff above. The incident left his leg and ankle broken but he believes that he could have lost the bottom half of his leg if he hadn’t been protected by his walking boots.

The taxi driver from Bournemouth is now seeking compensation from whoever is responsible for the land. “I want to try and get compensation but it doesn’t look as if anybody cares,” he said. “I want to say to people ‘please don’t go down there’. Even if I don’t get compensation, the best thing I can do is to warn people.

He explained that the accident could have been avoided if warning signs had been erected in the area. He added: “If there were notices to say how dangerous it is and what you can expect, people wouldn’t go there. I wouldn’t have gone there.”

After receiving a letter from the victim, West Dorset County Council have said that it does not own the land. The Wraxall family, who has owned the beach at Seatown for three generations, has also said that the incident took place outside its land.

Mr McGowan claims the accident has ruined his life, as he might not be able to return to work and also fears that he may lose his home.

“I know it’s a bad time of year for taxi drivers anyway but I’ll lose about £5,000 in earnings,” he explained.

“I will be off work for four months but it could be more depending on how my leg heals – it might never heal and I might not be able to work again. The rent needs paying and I’ve got no money to pay it.”

However a spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has commented that “the cliffs and seashore are dangerous” at the location of the accident and that Mr McGowan should have been able to make “[his] own risk assessment,” regardless of the lack of notices or warning signs present at the scene.

Sally Price, a lifelong fan of the 64-year-old singer, was struck by a football that Stewart had kicked towards the audience at the Point Depot concert. A tradition that the rocker has been doing at his concerts for over 30 years, Stewart kicked dozens of autographed footballs into the crowd, much to the delight of his fans.

The court heard that on this occasion, Stewart miskicked one of the balls, which hit the rigging above the stage at the venue and then came down on the fan’s head at such a pace that it knocked her over and left her feeling dazed for some time. Judge Jacqueline Linnane at the Circuit Civil Court awarded the sum to her after hearing that she continues to suffer whiplash-like injuries years after the incident took place, right into the present.

The concert promoters, MCD Promotions Ltd of Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, were slapped with the bill after the judge decided that the claimant had suffered concussion as a result of the incident.

The singer’s management team gave her four autographed footballs as an apology, two of which she gave to the doctor who treated her. Stewart, who is a keen Celtic supporter and who once trained as a professional footballer, also met with Mrs Price.

“I have always been a fan of his music and the singer came down to see me as I was being treated,” she said. “I would have been so pleased to have met him on a happier occasion.”

Hugh O’Keeffe, counsel for Mrs Price, told the court that such a reckless act could have been avoided and that the potential danger of the entertainer’s actions were foreseeable, leaving the concert promoters liable in negligence for the whiplash-like injuries to Mrs Price’s neck and shoulders.

The servicemen claim negligence on the part of the Ministry of Defence during the nuclear tests performed in the South Pacific and Australia between 1952 and 1958. The veterans were exposed to excessive radiation during the tests and this month won a high court case which grants them permission to sue the Ministry of Defence for financial compensation, which could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

A group of around 1,000 veterans believe the radiation exposure has been the cause of illnesses suffered later in life, including cancers and chromosome damage.

The counterargument put forward by the MoD stated that too much time had passed since the tests and that claims would undoubtedly fail at any future trial.

When presenting his verdict in London’s high court, Mr Justice Foskett refused to follow the MoD’s point of view. Instead he highlighting a recent scientific study from New Zealand which provided fresh evidence into the likely impacts a veteran’s health would face after being exposed to nuclear testing. Mr Justice Foskett believed this would be “crucial and pivotal” for any compensation claim lodged against the MoD.

The judge asked ministers to consider settling out of court, rather than dragging out legal proceedings further.

Of the ten lead cases, five were permitted to continue and claim compensation, while the other five were allowed to proceed as well on grounds of fairness.

A solicitor representing the veterans said he was “appalled, if not disgusted” with both the government, for allowing the issue of compensation to drag on, and the MoD for fighting the case.

“Prime minister after prime minister over the past 50 years have said that if veterans could prove that they had been exposed to radiation they would be compensated,” he said.

“When we could prove that they had been exposed to radiation the MoD says, ‘Sorry guys, you’re too late.’ That’s disingenuous. It’s not right. It’s appalling.” He accused ministers of wanting to delay the case so long that all the claimants would be dead: “There is no other conclusion that one could reach.”

Since the action pursuing compensation began, 59 of the veterans have died. It is now hoped that the MoD will reach a settlement with the surviving veterans within a few months, rather than go to trial in the courts, a process which would take years in preparation alone.

Shaaira Alexis is suing after she drank blackboard cleaning fluid placed in her water bottle by a schoolgirl, the High Court in London has been told.

Although Miss Alexis, 52, made a full recovery, she filed the compensation claim, saying she had suffered mental scars from the attack, and was once so scared of leaving her classroom that she urinated in a wastepaper bin.

Her poor attendance record at Brampton Manor School in Newham, east London, led to her losing her job in August 2006 and, having been unable to become a headteacher or department head, she set up a string of failed businesses.

Miss Alexis, described by her barrister William McCormick as an “excellent teacher” and a “valuable member of staff”, has launched a compensation claim for £700,000 in damages to cover lost earnings and pension entitlements against the London Borough of Newham.

Mr McCormick said other “extremely nasty” incidents at the 1,450-pupil school, in one of Britain’s poorest areas, had resulted in “ganging up on staff”. The local education authority denies negligence and disputes the value of her compensation claim.

In a move that may result in a landmark ruling, relatives of the nine RAF servicemen and one soldier have launched the action, claiming that even though the plane was downed by hostile forces, the Government failed to protect the dead’s human rights by not taking all necessary measures to protect the Hercules.

The C130K was brought down by small arms fire on January 30, 2005, as it flew at around 150 feet between Baghdad and Balad. A fuel tank was ruptured, causing an explosion which then blew the right wing off the plane.

The action follows on from the men’s inquest last year, where coroner David Masters concluded that they had been unlawfully killed. Highlighting the absence of explosive suppressant foam, or ESF, around the plane’s tanks, which expert witnessed argued could have prevented the crash, Mr Masters said: “The failure to fit ESF was, on the facts found, a serious systemic failure and a contributory factor in the loss of the aircraft. There was a loss of opportunity for the survival of the crew by that failure.”

Masters added that he found it “difficult to find logic” in the MoD’s decision not to fit ESF to the Hercules, particularly after it emerged that it had been recommended in a 2002 document. The inquest was also told that Iraqi insurgents had shot at two US Black Hawk helicopters on the day of the Hercules crash, but that information had not been passed on to British aircrews.

Smithfield Partners, which began an action against the MoD following the deaths of a number of servicemen killed when their Nimrod spy plane exploded in Afghanistan following refuelling, has issued similar proceedings on behalf of the Hercules families, accusing the ministry of negligence, breach of a duty of care and failing to comply with article 2 of the European convention on human rights – the respect for life.

Many legal experts believe it is the last claim that could result in a landmark ruling, paving the way for copycat legal actions from families that have lost loved ones in combat. John Cooper, the families’ barrister, said: “The families are of the view that there had been significant failings on behalf of the MoD. Fitting explosion suppression foam to the Hercules could have bought the crew time to save themselves.”

The MoD has already admitted fault. Following the inquest, Air Vice-Marshal Stephen Hillier said: “We were not able to provide the crew with all the up-to-date intelligence and tactical advice concerning potential vulnerabilities. The MoD did not take all available information into account in developing equipment to protect against likely threats. For these shortcomings, I would like to apologise, on behalf of the RAF and the MoD.”