.The latest wave of significant legal changes are set to come into effect in October 2018 as the Government proceeds to tackle the mythical ‘compensation culture’ in the UK by introducing a tariff scheme for whiplash compensation, amongst other measures.
The Ministry of Justice has based its proposals on two key objectives of reducing what it perceives as the number of ‘fraudulent’ whiplash compensation claims and states that this will in turn lower the insurance premiums paid by all motorists.
We acted for a client who had suffered catastrophic injuries, including brain injury, after being hit by a car driven by an elderly gentleman as she tried to cross the road.
Another firm of solicitors had been instructed to pursue her personal injury claim which had been settled for £1.1 million.
Lacking mental capacity following the accident, her joint deputies subsequently instructed Linder Myers to pursue a professional negligence claim believing that her personal injury claim had been under settled.
Working in the shipbuilding industry in the North East as a joiner, our client instructed us following a diagnosis of pleural thickening and asbestosis several decades later.
His exposure to significant amounts of asbestos was identified as having taken place during a four month stint in 1954 when he worked in excess of 10 hour days working with asbestos delivered in bales.
It has been revealed by a BBC investigation that a significant £10 million has been paid out to those who have suffered an illness as a result of exposure to asbestos in a school.
Most commonly associated with industrial buildings and environments, asbestos was in fact widely used in a wide range of buildings including hospitals, schools and houses, and was often used for its fireproof properties up until all forms of this mineral were banned in 1999.
It seems that more and more victims of childhood sexual abuse are coming forward with the latest revelation coming from the football world.
Ex footballer Andy Woodward recently waived his anonymity to bravely talk about the sexual abuse he suffered in the 1980’s at the hands of his coach, who at the time, had a reputation for being an outstanding coach and talent spotter in the sport.
Revealing that he had been targeted from the age of 11 and suffered hundreds of rapes over a period of several years, the Football Association has since reacted by setting up a helpline for further potential victims.
For those impacted by a serious brain injury, the road to recovery can be a long one. The quality and speed of medical care following a serious brain injury can make all the difference to the injured party, so it was heartening to hear that we have one of the best specialist hospitals in the North West.
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool received the highest rating from industry regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which gave the facility an ‘outstanding’ rating in a recently published report following its inspection in April.
The CQC reported that it found the brain injury specialist hospital to be “outstanding for being effective and caring” and that it was “particularly impressed with the centre’s attention to detail throughout patients’ journey through the hospital.”
High profile reports on sexual abuse cases at the hands of public figures such as Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter to name a few, have arguably helped to encourage more victims of sexual abuse to come forward.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales however, reports that as many as 56% of the victims who participated in its research were survivors of sexual assault at the hands of someone closer to home.
You have made a successful personal injury claim, but how do you protect the compensation awarded to you? A personal injury trust can help you to look after your long-term financial future. This is particularly important if you are receiving means-tested benefits. Personal Injury Trusts and Benefits Currently, if you have capital over £16,000, you…
It was just another day at school when our client’s 11 year old son made his way across the road on his way home after school but he didn’t make it as a negligent driver hit him knocking him unconscious.
He needed to be resuscitated at the scene and the collision caused a number of serious injuries including a fractured pelvis, a clot in his lower limb and significant brain injury.
The driver seemingly had not seen our client’s son crossing the road, he was driving over the limit for that stretch of road and also failed to either slow down or stop the car following the accident.
The unfortunate news of the death of a 21 year old Blackburn woman who died during basic military training in Surrey, is sadly one of a string of similar incidents in recent months. It is not known at this early stage whether the cause of death was of natural causes.
An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of death which follows at least three similar fatalities during military training in the past three months. In September, the death of a 22 year old British soldier who drowned during a training exercise in Austria was reported. An inquest found that he had previously failed the Ministry of Defence’s swim test and should not have been permitted to participate in the white water rafting exercise.
As thousands of children return to school this month, some parents may have a sense of apprehension following the tragic death of 12 year old Jessica Lawson who died while on a school trip to France in the summer.
The Wolfreton School in Hull pupil had joined the school trip to a watersports adventure centre with 23 other students accompanied by three staff from the school and died as a result of a swimming accident when she was trapped under a pontoon which overturned.
All schools have a health and safety duty of care to both employees and students while they are on school premises and while abroad on trips organised by them. The government advises schools that they could be liable under civil law for an incident where an individual under their duty of care is injured or dies as a result of negligence by them or their staff; or the organisation or staff of the place they are staying and activities they are doing while on a school trip.
The recent Demi Moore pool death, involving a young 21 year old man who drowned and died in the pool of the American actress, attracted widespread media headlines and suggestions that the Ghost star could be sued for his death despite not being at the property at the time.
Edenilson Steven Valle allegedly fell asleep while lying on a lilo in the pool of her Beverley Hills home and lost his life by drowning. It later emerged that he was a friend of one of Moore’s employees and was at her home while she visited her daughters.
While the shocking news reached the actress, American lawyers were releasing statements that despite her absence at the time of the incident, she could still be liable for the young man’s death.
Awareness of the hazardous health effects of asbestos exposure has heightened in recent years. Thankfully, changes in legislation mean that the material is no longer used and in any event, asbestos is only dangerous if it’s disturbed allowing dangerous dust fibres to disburse.
The risks of asbestos in relation to mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, have been known since the 1950s and 1960s however, the material was still widely used for a range of building insulation purposes until the late 1970s and only banned as recently as 1999.
We successfully won a six figure settlement for an 81 year old client who sadly died from mesothelioma just six weeks after instructing us suspecting that his illness was due to asbestos exposure during his career as a firefighter in the Midlands region.
Every employee is protected by law in relation to health and safety in the workplace. Unfortunately, some employers don’t take this seriously and individuals find themselves suffering health issues as a result, as was the case with a recent client who successfully won a personal injury claim against his employer.
Employers in England and Wales have a duty of care to ensure that the workplace is free of any health risk and to protect employees from any health hazards in their working environment.
Our client worked as a forklift driver responsible for keeping a construction yard organised and maintaining stock control. He noticed immediately that the yard was in a very poor state of repair with several large and deep potholes and although he raised this with his employer on several occasions, no action was taken to resolve the matter.
Many of us go to work with no risk of injury, but an accident at work can occasionally happen and what first appears to be a minor injury can escalate into something more serious, as was the case for a recent client.
Aged 39 at the time, he worked for a national timber and building materials supplier and part of his role was to collect mechanical diggers from construction sites.
Our client had standing instructions on the procedures he had to use when collecting equipment, but these were deficient and restrictive, meaning that he often still had to carry out manual lifting of heavy digger buckets to load them onto his truck.
An accident can happen at any time potentially causing significant injury. Accidents can happen anywhere, whether it be at work, in a shop, on a pavement, or in a road accident. But if an injury takes place on ‘no man’s land’ it becomes difficult to ascertain who would be responsible for ensuring public safety and would be liable for any accidents caused?
We recently acted for a gentleman who, following a usual night out at his local pub, had left the premises and lost his balance due to a broken and sunken kerbstone causing him to fall and suffer a fracture and dislocated lower leg and ankle.
According to the Department of Transport, individuals who have a motorbike accident are 38 times more likely to be killed on the roads than car drivers when an accident occurs.
In 2013 alone, 331 individuals sadly lost their lives while a further 4,866 were seriously injured following a motorbike accident on Britain’s roads.
We recently acted for a client who was hit at a junction by a car travelling at considerable speed crossing through a red light. He suffered multiple orthopaedic injuries as a result and has amnesia and psychological problems following the accident.
Overseas holidays are more accessible than ever. Flights are getting cheaper and package holidays take much of the stress away.
You have your bags packed, you’re looking forward to relaxing sunshine, great food and simply, a change. What happens in the unfortunate circumstance that you suffer an injury following medical negligence or a personal injury while overseas?
If you’re feeling unwell at home, you simply pop to your local pharmacy, book an appointment with your GP or visit your local hospital. If you are sadly a victim of medical negligence which leads to a significant injury, the law protects you.
Similarly, if you suffer a significant personal injury while on home soil, such as a bad trip on an uneven pavement, a preventable accident in a hotel or being injured by an item which falls on you, the law protects you.
Recent headlines stating that 90% of schools in the Lancashire region contain asbestos are shocking at first. There is a growing awareness of the ongoing presence of asbestos in lots of different types of buildings and the dangers of exposure.
Asbestos was most commonly found in industrial environments such as factories or construction sites, so the knowledge that asbestos was also widely used in the building of schools will be a surprise to many.
A recent court case has improved the chances of many people being compensated for asbestos related diseases – even if they didn’t work directly with the toxic substance.
The Supreme Court ruled that the mesothelioma victim, who had worked as a lorry driver in the mid to late 50’s, should receive compensation – a week after his death from the illness.
The Devon man had been exposed to asbestos during his duties picking up waste products from Battersea Power Station and had previously had his claim dismissed in a trial in Bristol. Following an appeal, he was awarded compensation because he had regularly gone into areas of the plant where asbestos dust was generated.
© Copyright 2016 Linder Myers
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