Personal injury news roundup: 7 days ended 25 June 2013:
Now I’m not about to come out and say that someone’s personal injury compensation claim is silly or spurious, but sometimes I wonder about these claimants.
Look, I’m all for the way personal injury solicitors in the UK come to the defense of those that have been injured, especially when it comes to a personal injury at work. I think it’s important to have your rights as a worker defended, especially when it comes to being safe and free from harm whilst on the job, but sometimes I find out about instances that makes me question all that – like when one bloke bent his finger and now wants £150,000 in compensation because he can’t send text messages any more.
I swear on my mum I’m not making this story up – it’s 100 per cent real. An IT specialist fell down some stairs at work, according to his personal injury claim, and now he’s claiming damages for ‘personal injuries’ that include damage to his right index finger to the point where he needs to have his adult son send his texts for him. I can understand that this could be more than a bit of a bother for someone who makes his living as n IT worker, but is it just me or does your off hand work just as well for making texts?
I mean, compare this case with someone with actual life-threatening injuries, like how a worker ended up nearly pinned between a girder support and the floor when a massive one-tonne metal cutting tool fell atop him. The man somehow miraculously survived – though onlookers were convinced he was crushed to death in an instant – and he only received some £70,000 for his injuries.
Perhaps this second fellow should have used the first bloke’s injury solicitors, especially if he only got around £70,000 for his pain and suffering – which included post-traumatic stress disorder from having a gargantuan piece of manufacturing equipment fall upon him. Again I’m not trying to compare apples to oranges here, but when you drop one orange down the stairs it’s in shedloads better shape than when you drop a bloody anvil on a basket of apples, isn’t it?