Personal injury news roundup: 7 days ended 18 March 2014:
It seems to me that some people might not have the whole ‘this is a valid personal injury claim’ concept down with complete clarity judging by this week’s news.
In fact it’s a mixed bag of ‘so obvious you don’t need to be a personal injury solicitor to understand it’ and ‘what were they thinking’ that it makes me absolutely wonder. I mean look at this – the first news story that broke this week is how a 34 year old Co-op branch manager ended up winning a major personal injury compensation case after her supervisor instructed her to repair a faulty air conditioning unit by putting her hand inside. The inevitable happened of course – the inner machinery of the air con did so much catastrophic damage to the poor woman’s hand that she’s lost permanent function in several fingers and has found it completely impossible to to any of the things she used to before hand – simple things like holding hands with both her children at the same time any more.
The Co-op in its infinite wisdom has admitted liability, but refuses to take all the heat for the issue and has been negotiating with the poor woman. However, scuttlebutt says that a sizable compensation has been reached, and I can only assume it’s to be tens of thousands of pounds at the very least for such a traumatising and permanent injury.
Meanwhile, this week there was also the other side of the coin when a schoolboy won more than £15,000 in damages after a plastic DVD case, accidentally tossed by his teacher with too much force, collided with the lad’s head, causing what the courts described as a ‘tiny cut’ to his eyebrow. Apparently the little bit of a scar left over by the injury was too much for the ickle boy’s doting parents, who sued the bloody pants off Essex County Council to that tune.
I’m sorry but this is just bloody ridiculous and completely irresponsible. There’s absolutely no need for £15,000 for a damned cosmetic injury. So the lad won’t get to grow up and be a male model, who gives a whit about that? I thought all the ladies (and perhaps even a few of the blokes) loved a man with rugged good looks and a distinctive, masculine scar?