Claims Direct News Feed

Factory worker wins compensation after slip at work

Tue, 29 May 2007 17:24:51 GMT

A factory worker who was left unable to do with his job after suffering a fall at work has won an undisclosed compensation payout.

Mark Stewart, 38, had been working for Magna Kansei, an injection moulding company in Sunderland, when the accident occurred.

He had been advancing along a walkway, when he slipped on a sheet of tin that had been discarded.

As a result, he ruptured his cruciate ligament.

Following corrective surgery he suffered reduced mobility and was unable to perform the kind of heavy lifting tasks that his job had required.

Commenting on the outcome Mr Stewart told the Sunderland Echo: "Magna said I could apply for other jobs in the factory, but some of them involve heavy lifting and I was under-qualified for the others, so there was no choice but to leave.

"I'm not sure what I will do next. I've been told to avoid heavy work if I can. I trained as an electrician, but I can't do the crawling around the floor that's involved in domestic work, so I think it's back to the drawing board."

Mr Stewart had initially been seeking compensation in the sum of £9,500, however, the award is thought to be considerably in excess of this figure.

29/05/2007 17:24

Ex-prison warder suing for compensation after HIV panic

Tue, 29 May 2007 17:27:47 GMT

A former prison officer is seeking damages of £300,000 after breaking up a fight caused him to swallow the blood of an intravenous drug user.

Edward Pratt, 44, was employed at Barlinnie Jail in Glasgow when the incident occurred in 1997.

When a fight broke out, Mr Pratt attempted to break up the fracas, whereupon one of the prisoners shook his head.

As a result, blood from the prisoner's wounded face landed in Mr Pratt's mouth and on his clothes.

Subsequent tests for Aids and hepatitis proved negative, however, Mr Pratt alleges that the Scottish Prison Service's (SPS) lackadaisical attitude towards the tests caused delays to the arrival of the results.

According to Mr Pratt, the stress involved in waiting for the results to arrive to have caused him to fall into depression, which led to his being signed off from work.

Mr Pratt's claims are being contested by the SPS on the grounds that their former employee had been given suitable advice following the accident.

The body also claims the amount of damages is excessive.

29/05/2007 17:27

Family wins six-figure compensation from rail company

Wed, 30 May 2007 17:24:05 GMT

A family have won a six-figure compensation award after their mother contracted a fatal disease through being exposed to asbestos.

Brenda Kitchen is thought to have contracted bronchopneumonia after being exposed to asbestos through direct contact with her husband, whose work with British Rail around the Midlands meant that he was frequently in contract with the substance.

British Rail failed to provide facilities to remove the clothes, meaning that Mr Kitchen would frequently come home with traces of asbestos since she was forced to wash the clothes herself.

The sum of compensation was agreed out of court after BRB - the company which has subsequently replaced British Rail - had initially denied liability.

In March of this year it was revealed that government proposals are in place to fast-track compensation claims for victims so that they are able to be remunerated quicker.

The proposals will facilitate claims from people who were exposed to asbestos through living near to a factory that used it.

Meanwhile, spouses who contracted asbestos-related conditions through physical contact will also now be in line for compensation.

30/05/2007 17:24

Compensation for asbestos-cancer electrician

Thu, 31 May 2007 17:23:21 GMT

A former electrician who has contracted an asbestos-related cancer has won compensation of nearly £950,000 from his employers.

Raymond Shanks, 59, of West Monkeaston, Tyneside, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2005.

He contracted the condition after his work at Swan Hunter's Wallsend shipyard, where he was employed for four years from 1965, caused him to be exposed to asbestos dust.

Following his diagnosis he moved back to England from Australia where he had been living.

As a result of the disease he suffers severely limited mobility, which means he must be constantly attended to by his wife, and is expected to not live much beyond 2009.

The award comprises £70,000 for loss of enjoyment of life and pain and suffering, while the remainder of the money is to cover loss of earnings and the costs of relocating.

It is estimated that 1,900 people die of mesothelioma every year in the UK.

31/05/2007 17:23

Compensation for passenger without seatbelt

Thu, 31 May 2007 17:31:45 GMT

A youth who sustained injuries in a car crash leaving him with a severe disability has won compensation of £9.5 million - a record amount for a personal injury case.

Waseem Sarwar, who was 17 at the time, picked up the injury while being driven by his friend Kamran Ali in a car he was taking on a test drive in September 2001.

Consequently Mr Ali was not insured to drive the vehicle.

While on a dual carriageway, Mr Ali claimed that he swerved to avoid an oncoming car, causing the vehicle to crash and flinging Mr Sarwar through the back window.

As a result Mr Sarwar, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, suffered head and spine injuries and is now confined to a wheelchair.

He has also had to give up studying to be an accountant and requires round the clock care.

The compensation of just under £9.5 million will be paid by the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), although the amount is set to be reduced on account of the claimant not wearing a safety belt.

The MIB is a body that pays compensation to victims of drivers who picked up their injuries from drivers without insurance.

31/05/2007 17:31

Blinded girl wins compensation from NHS Trust

Thu, 31 May 2007 17:34:39 GMT

A seven-year-old girl has won nearly £1 million in compensation after an NHS trust admitted liability for mistakes made by its hospital staff that left her blind.

Nansi Hidrej was born prematurely at 26 weeks in 2002 at Wexham Park Hospital in Berkshire.

However, although doctors at the trust embarked on a number of successful treatements of the various harmful conditions Nansi was born with, they failed to spot that she was afflicted with Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Consequently, Nansi's retinas became detached causing her to go blind.

The doctors might have been able to treat the condition had it been noticed, but the diagnosis was too late for effective treatment to be made.

Nansi's mother Brikena Hidrej will receive the payment from Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Trust in the form of an initial payment of just of £411,000 and further yearly sums of £15,000.

31/05/2007 17:34

Policeman sued for compensation over road accident

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:02:11 GMT

A Scottish man is to sue a chief constable after he was thrown from his motorbike following a collision with a police car.

Jamie Longland, 24, was at a junction at Lochie Brae in Perth on May 13th when he was hit by Pc Carswell.

After the accident Mr Longland sustained leg injuries and was forced to use crutches for several weeks.

Furthermore, he alleges that his ability to drive was detrimentally affected and that he could not pursue his hobbies.

Mr Longland is claiming that Mr Vine had not applied due care and attention to his driving over the accident and is seeking £10,000 in compensation, as well as a further £500 to cover the assistance he required from his parents and £308 in lost wages.

The court writ says: It was his (Pc Carswell)duty to take reasonable care for the safety of other road users. He failed in those duties and his failure caused the accident."

Mr Vine does not dispute liability but is contesting the extent of the damages.

01/06/2007 17:02

Ruling frees hit and run victims to claim compensation

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:55:02 GMT

People who sustained injuries in hit and run incidents could be line in compensation thanks to a ruling in the High Court.

The decision from Mr Justice Flaux came in a case which saw Ben Byrne, who was injured in an accident with an untraced driver in 1993, seeking damages from the Motor Insurer's Bureau.

However, due to his mother Julie Byrne being unaware of the work of the MIB, which compensates victims of uninsured or untraceable drivers, she did not file her claim until 2001.

At the High Court hearing the MIB had reasoned that her claim was invalid since it was did not meet the requirement of the government's Untraced Driver's Agreement of 1972 that such claims must be filed within three years of the accident.

However, the body's case was quashed on the grounds that the terms of the law necessarily penalise those who have been victims of untraceable drivers.

The claimants must now prove that the driver who hit Ben, who spent six weeks in traction with a badly damaged thigh as a result, had been negligent.

06/06/2007 16:55

Compensation for man injured in nightclub fracas

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:19:24 GMT

A Portuguese man has been awarded compensation after breaking his jaw during a fracas with a nightclub doorman.

Madiu Dejalo will receive £250 in damages after the incident which occurred when former doorman Martin Chapman pushed him to the ground.

As a result, Mr Dejalo spent five days in hospital having treatment for the injury.

The recorder Stuart Bridge accepted that Mr Chapman already asked Mr Dejalo to leave the Zen nightclub and that at the time he had been a man of good character.

However, Mr Bridge ruled that by taking a violent course of action, he had not displayed the restraint expected of doormen.

He told Mr Chapman: "I accept the incident was not of your making and you did not in any way provoke it. But doorman are expected to be firm and show restraint. It is their duty to defuse situations and not add fuel to the fire."

Along with paying the damages to Mr Dejalo, Mr Chapman was also ordered to complete 80 hours of community service and was placed under a three-month curfew.

07/06/2007 17:19

Woman awarded five-figure sum after unnecessary operation

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:06:17 GMT

Woman awarded five-figure sum after unnecessary operation
A five-figure sum has been awarded in compensation to a woman from Kirkham, Lancashire after she underwent a hysterectomy without giving the procedure her approval.

While Gillian Gordon arrived at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, London, on October 15th 2003 aware that she was to undergo a procedure to freeze and remove a section of her ovaries, she specifically requested that a hysterectomy be postponed until it had been confirmed that her ovaries were cancerous.

However, when she awoke she was informed that a hysterectomy had been performed regardless.

Although it transpired she had signed a consent form it was ruled that this occurred while she was still sedated, and was therefore in no fit condition to take a balanced view.

It is as a result of this that Hammersmith Hospital NHS Trust deemed Ms Gordon worthy of compensation.

"I knew that I may have to lose my ovaries and, of course, if the cells proved to be malignant I knew that I would have to consider a hysterectomy," Ms Gordon explained in the Lancashire Evening Post.

"The consultant and his team had made me aware of this but I saw it very much as a last resort - I wanted the cancer to be ruled out first.

As a result of the operation, Ms Gordon was forced to undergo life-saving surgery just twelve days later, and still suffers from its effects four years later.

15/06/2007 17:06