Archive for June, 2008

The Government has announced that there will be a research based review of “No Win No Fee” agreements in England and Wales.

The study will be undertaken by senior academics, and will consider whether this type of arrangement is still operating in the public’s best interests and providing access to justice.  Almost every personal injury claim will be affected.

Justice Minister, Bridget Prentice, said “No win - no fee arrangements are vital in helping to give the public a voice in courts.  We feel that now is the appropriate time for a comprehensive, objective and evidence based examination of the operation of no win - no fee arrangements in relation to personal injury, employment and defamation cases.”

Statistics indicate that in the UK between 2000 and 2005 there were 3,637 road accidents resulting from oil or diesel spills.  Of these, 617 resulted in either death or serious injury.

Deposits of oil or diesel on the road leave the surface as slippery as if black ice had formed, with a potentially catastrophic effect on unsuspecting road users.  In the long term, diesel will melt the tarmac surface, which can result in the creation of potholes.  Most spills are from trucks and lorries. 

If a road accident results from such a spill and someone is injured, even though the person responsible for the spill is unlikely to be identified, claims for injury compensation can still be made against the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB).  That body acts on behalf of the insurance industry and steps in to compensate people injured in road accidents where the responsible party is either uninsured or untraced.

The Court of Appeal have decided that when a player suffers an injury as a result of an “assault” by another player during the game, sports clubs may now have to pay injury compensation to the victim of the “assault”.

The decision involved a match between teams playing for Redruth Rugby Football Club and Halifax Rugby Football Club that took place in 2005.  During the match one of the Redruth players thumped a Halifax team member, Andrew Gravil, and he sustained injuries to his eye socket.

At the original trial of the personal injury claim, the Court made a distinction between full-time and semi-professional players.  However, the Court of Appeal found that it was fair and just for clubs to be held responsible in this situation whether or not the participants in the match were employed by the clubs on a full-time or part-time basis.

A woman from Leeds whose sofa was manufactured in the UK and distributed by Homebase claims that it was defective, resulting in her infant son suffering injury.

Her claim is based on her son suffering severe burns approximately 1 hour after being laid on the leather sofa.  He had to remain bandaged for 3 months with a weeping rash, and his mother was unable to return to work at the end of her maternity leave, because of the amount of care he required.

Homebase have apologised for the distress caused and offered a refund, but have indicated that they have not received any other complaints concerning this particular type of sofa.

Currently, there are 1000s of people pursuing injury compensation claims in respect of defective sofas that were manufactured in China and sold under the names “Pia” and “Bari”, which caused burns and skin irritations.  Investigations in these cases suggest that any burns may have been caused by fungicide sachets that were inside the sofas and which were to protect against mould during transit and storage.

Chiltern Flowers, a florist at Marylebone Station in Central London, was ordered by the Court to pay accident compensation to a commuter following his claims that the company was negligent after he slipped on flower petals and fell onto his right hand and then his right knee, resulting in injury.  The decision was appealed by the company, but the appeal was lost.

The original decision was made by the High Court last July.  The company was found to be negligent in failing to have a reasonably effective and safe system for dealing with the potential slipping hazard caused by fallen petals.

As a result of the decision being upheld on appeal, the company will have to pay injury compensation to the injured commuter, Mr Brian Piccolo; however the amount of personal injury compensation to be paid has not yet been assessed.

A recent study has discovered that two out of three employees suffer from work related repetitive strain injury (RSI).  This is thought to have cost employers more than £300m in lost working hours as well as leaving them wide open to work related personal injury compensation claims.

Computer giant Microsoft commissioned the research, which discovered that 68% of respondents were suffering or had suffered from back, wrist, hand or shoulder pain, all of which are key symptoms of repetitive strain injury.

Over the past 12 months cases have soared by 30%, with employers increasingly worried about additional overhead costs of temporary staff, lost man hours and injury compensation claims.

The Ministry of Justice has announced that a consultation on the Law Lords’ pleural plaques ruling begins this month and is expected to reach a decision in time for the Queen’s speech in November.

The consultation will consider options including restoring the right to injury compensation for pleural plaques which was removed by a decision of the House of Lords in 2007.

Pleural plaques rarely cause physical symptoms but they are a sign of asbestos damage and are associated with an increased risk of developing fatal conditions like mesothelioma.  Simply having knowledge of the condition often causes sufferers to become anxious or even clinically depressed.

A Judge has given people who were injured by defective Pia and Bari sofas the go ahead for a group action, the effect of which is to progress the injury compensation claims together, but this does not stop people making new claims where they have been injured but have not yet done anything about it.

Mr Justice Treacy granted the Order against the companies which supplied the defective sofas, namely Argos; Land of Leather and Walmsley Furnishing.

More than 1000 people have made a personal injury claim after the Pia and Bari sofas manufactured in China appeared to cause a range of symptoms including allergies, rashes and burns.  The Pia and Bari ranges were withdrawn by Argos in October 2007 offering a refund or replacement.

A firm has been prosecuted after a work accident in which one of its workers died.  The accident happened in January 2005 when a 60-year-old employee was crushed.

A forklift truck had been going round a corner when its driver performed an emergency stop in order to avoid hitting a staff member.  Due to the sudden braking, a steel coil situated on the forks became dislodged and fell on top of the man, pinning him to the ground.  He later died from his injuries.

As a result of this accident at work IP, a firm which is located in Uxbridge, was given a fine of £50,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 in costs at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court.  The company pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations.

Employers’ misconceptions and general lack of knowledge about rehabilitation for injuries resulting from an accident at work or absence due to ill health could be costing them up to £610 million each year.

EEF (employers’ organisation) and Unum (disability insurer) have published “The Sickness Absence Report 2008″, which indicates that businesses actively providing rehabilitation for injured or sick employees have enjoyed a 0.7% lower absence rate as a result.

This equates to an extra 1.5 days’ work per employee each year, and in the manufacturing industry this means something in the region of 4.5 million working days.