If you suffer an injury and liability is admitted by the third party then that is half of the battle won with making a claim. However, there is then a responsibility to provide evidence to support your injuries and this is part of the compensation aspect of the claim. General damages are provided in respect of pain and suffering and loss of amenity. This breaks down in to two parts:
Read More

When performing a task it is important to use appropriate equipment to allow you to complete it with minimum risk. In the workplace, employers have a duty of care, born out of the law of negligence, to provide such a task. The legislation governing this is in the UK is called the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (also known as ‘PUWER’). It is supplemented by several more closely defined regulations for specific types of equipment.
Read More

The heads of an NHS Trust have been made to apologise in person to the parents of a cancer patient who bled to death after having a breathing tube inserted in his neck incorrectly. Investigations are ongoing as to whether any members of staff should face prosecution. The replacement tube was inserted in the wrong place in victim, Mr Myron Hall’s, neck. It was supposed to be placed directly in to Mr Hall’s windpipe, helping him breathe easier but instead he began bleeding from the tube after it seemingly pierced the wall of an artery. It was stitched following the wound but Mr Hall suffered a catastrophic bleed four days later.
Read More

A woman has been cleared by the court after she was accused of trying to smother her mother with a pillow as she slept. Donna Sheppard- Saunders denied trying to murder Pamela Sheppard in the bedroom they shared in Sussex. The trial was heard in Lewes Crown Court, where the court was told that Ms Sheppard-Saunders put a pillow over her mother’s head while she was sleepwalking.
Read More

Two young children were found on a beach, struggling against an incoming tide, while their mother left them to go shopping. The boys were found on a sandbank at an islet off Hilbre island, near West Kirby. Some members of their family were found searching for the children further up the beach.
Read More

Hospital staff are vulnerable to falling victim to dangerous working practices in an attempt to meet European rules on doctors working hours. According to the BBC website, the Royal College of Surgeons data on the number of rotas complying with the 48 hour week indicated a fall of 6% between March and April.
Read More

If you have an accident in the workplace you might be concerned about who you are claiming against. Sometimes an accident can be caused by a colleague in the workplace acting negligently and they themselves might not be insured to cover against these accidents and not have the money to compensate you for an injury suffered.
Read More

What is ‘Beat knee‘? It’s a joint disease, specifically known as osteoarthritis of the knee. A bursitis (inflammation of small sacs of fluid) develops below or underneath the kneecap as a result of severe or prolonged pressure on the knee, wearing away at the cartilage. This causes the joint to degenerate.
Read More

A worker died from electrocution at Sudley Castle in Gloucestershire after making contact with an overhead cable while working on a marquee at the site. The victim was Mr Krysztof Wiecek, aged 45 from Poland. An inquest in to what happened has revealed that the foreman in charge of erecting the marquee failed to implement a new risk assessment when the cables were spotted and instead continued with a generic assessment.
Read More

The early stages of personal injury claims are governed by something called the pre-action protocol. These are specific steps that must be followed prior to the commencement of a claim at court. The point of the protocol is to try and encourage contact and early exchange of information so that claims can be settled at an early stage, preferably without litigation. However, the steps of the protocol mean than both parties are better prepared if proceedings are issued which again means that the verdict on cases should be reached more swiftly.
Read More