Personal Injury news & Compensation Claim info

MAU Mau warriors that fought the British during Kenya’s war of independence are bringing a compensation claim against the UK over alleged military atrocities.

Lawyers for the veterans said they have recorded some 40 cases of torture, including unlawful detention, sexual abuse and castration.

A Nairobi-based spokesman for the Mau Mau said they believed they would win the compensation claim case. However, the British Government said the compensation claim is no longer valid because of the time that has lapsed since the abuses are alleged to have taken place.

Three men and two women from Kenya that were held during the 1950s insurgency are leading the compensation claim, and the case will be lodged at the High Court in London on June 23.

The compensation claim is being brought by the Mau Mau War Veterans’ Association and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and it is not the first compensation claim brought by Kenya’s independence fighters.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has claimed that 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, while 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions.

EVIDENCE from the popular online site Facebook has been used in at least three recent personal injury cases in Canada.

Myla Bagasbas, from Vancouver, lost her claim for $40,000 in personal injury damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment after the defendents produced photos from her Facebook profile that showed her kayaking, hiking and cycling following the accident.

In a precedent-setting case earlier this year, Toronto judge Justice David Brown ordered that a man suing for personal injury in a car accident should be cross-examined about the contents of his private Facebook profile, overturning a previous court decision that labelled the defendant’s search for incriminating evidence a “fishing expedition”.

In another case, in Murphy versus Perger, Ontario Superior Court Justice Helen Rady ordered the plaintiff, who was suing for claims of personal injury and loss of enjoyment of life following a car accident, should produce copies of her Facebook pages containing photos of her engaging in social activities, writing in the judgment: “The plaintiff could not have a serious expectation of privacy given that 366 people have been granted access to the private site.”

The use of social media, particularly by defendents in personal injury cases, led Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in ethics, law and technology at the University of Ottawa to comment: “Facebook will be seen as a gold mine for evidence in court cases. The courts sometimes don’t get it. The tendency in judicial opinion and popular thinking is that once something is out in the public, there’s no such thing as privacy anymore.”

ONE of the UK’s most senior judges has criticised the high cost of personal injury cases.

In a review, Lord Justice Jackson said personal injury case costs were now “remarkably high”.

The judge commented: “The personal injury litigation industry is populated by numerous interest groups and middlemen, all of whom have to meet their overheads and make a profit on top.

He is now backing Government measures, put forward two years ago, to streamline the personal injury legal process, arguing that they made “eminently good sense”.

The second phase of the review, including full conclusions, is expected to be published in December.

Lord Justice Jackson also called on the Government to reconsider its plans to increase court fees for civil and family cases in England and Wales, arguiing in the review that moving civil justice system costs from taxpayers to litigants was “wrong in principle”.

Government ministers want increased court fees so the system is self-funding. The second phase of the review is expected in December.

CLAIMS specialist National Accident Helpline is working with financial website moneysupermarket.com as a key supplier for its new personal injury claims referral scheme.

The new venture means that thousands more customers will be able to access free personal injury claims advice online.

Alan Kennedy, chief executive officer of National Accident Helpline, said: “National Accident Helpline helps thousands of accident victims to achieve access to justice by introducing them to our specialist panel of lawyers every year.

“We are proud to be the personal injury brand that consumers most trust – and it is good news that they can access claims advice from a second well trusted source.”

This new venture sees moneysupermarket.com adding personal injury advice services to its price comparison site, which has historically been best known for its credit card, loan, mortgage and insurance comparison.

National Accident Helpline will be one of the main companies to receive personal injury leads from moneysupermarket.com, which received over 120 million visits in 2008.

The move by moneysupermarket.com to include a personal injury advice section follows an overall rise in personal injury claims throughout the UK.

A TEACHER who claims she was poisoned by a pupil is making a £700,000 compensation claim against her former employers.

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.

THE head of a NHS trust that was at the centre of the UK’s infection outbreak in which 90 people died has failed to win a compensation claim over losing her job.

Rose Gibb is said to be reviewing her legal options after a compensation claim for £175,000 was rejected by Mr Justice Treacy.

She quit her £150,000-a-year post as chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent just days before the organisation was heavily criticised in a report in October 2007 on the spread of clostridium difficile on overcrowded and dirty wards.

She had filed the compensation claim, arguing that because she left her post by mutual agreement, she was entitled to a £250,000 severance package, with £175,000 compensation and £75,000 notice pay. The Department of Health only paid her notice pay after there was a public outcry over the agreement.

Ms Gibb said the ruling had been made on a “contentious and complex point of law”. She is now taking further advice from her lawyers and union, although it is unclear whether she will appeal against the decision on her compensation claim.

AN OAP is to make a compensation claim after falling from her wheelchair on what she says was an uneven pavement.

Daphne Slater, 73, says she is fearful of leaving her house after the accident, which happened near her home in Nuthall, Nottinghamshire.

Now the pensioner is filing a personal injury compensation claim against the local authorityafter suffering black eyes, bruising down the side of her face and having stitches on her nose and X-rays on her hands and feet following the fall.

Her family says that when she got in touch with Nottinghamshire County Council, staff told her that the pavement was routinely checked and did not require repair work, although the authority admitted to resurfacing it a month after the accident.

The council has written to Mrs Slater to say that it is not liable for the injuries, but she is going to press ahead with the compensation claim.

Her son Stephen had been pushing her to the doctor’s when they fell on what they said was a sharp rise in the pavement.

Ms Slater received a letter from the Council saying it was not liable for any injury suffered. She says that she will be appealing against the decision and is seeking personal injury accident compensation.

A council spokesman said: “It is inappropriate for us to comment on a compensation claim that it is still under investigation.”

A LABOURER who fell at work and had to have a leg amputated received a six-figure sum in compensation from his former employer.

Mr William Edge fell from his wet ladder onto concrete three metres below, breaking his ankle in the fall. After eight separate operations and sixteen months of treatment, his right ankle became infected and the decision was made to amputate his leg below the knee.

Mr Edge said the injury had taken away his career as well as leaving him traumatised, commenting “It’s difficult to comprehend how much my life has changed since this accident. It’s ruined my life in many ways. The most obvious effect has been on my mobility. I was fit, healthy and fully mobile before my accident.”

“I also suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder. I get flashbacks of the accident and the hospital.” Mr Edge was keen to stress that the infection was due to the break in his ankle, and not the standard of care at Derriford Hospital where he was taken.

Mr Edge received substantial personal injury compensation in an out-of-court settlement with building firm Ardmore Construction, his former employer.

A spokesperson for Ardmore Construction Limited said the company deeply regrets the accident, and that they “accept that there is always more that can be done to improve safety in the construction industry…we employ eight full-time safety officers who work tirelessly to prevent accidents. Although he was an older worker, Bill was fit, healthy and fully mobile, and considered more than able to climb a ladder.”

MINERS who suffer from osteoarthritis of the knee – more commonly known as miner’s knee – must act now over compensation claims they are entitled to, a Welsh MP has claimed.

Nia Griffith, MP for Llanelli, said recent legislation that signalled the government’s recognition of Miner’s Knee as an industrial disease, had allowed the going-ahead of compensation claims in the form of the new Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.

But she warned ex-pit workers against signing up with law firms that take part of the payments, arguing that miners can apply directly for the compensation, without the help of solicitors.

“I want to see every penny of any payment going into the pockets only of those who deserve it – miners – and not the pockets of greedy law firms,” said Ms Griffiths. “Some made millions of pounds out of processing claims in the past – providing a quite unnecessary service.

“What I would tell former miners is that claims should be made direct to the government’s Department for Work and Pensions at their Castleford IIDB Centre in Leeds.”

Ministers agreed with recommendations from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council that coal miners who have worked underground for over 10 years should be entitled to compensation claims in the form of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. The scheme is expected to be up and running at the end of June.