The well known supermarket, Sainsbury’s, has had to pay out a substantial amount of personal injury compensation to a customer after they were injured when shopping in the store.
It was heard that Ms Louisa Cotterill was shopping in the retailer’s Witney outlet in July 2008 when the incident happened. Ms Louisa Cotterill was shopping with her partner and her two young children at the time, when Ms Cotterill brushed passed a shop worker with her trolley.
Ms Cotterill, who is 32 years of age, stated that the member of staff lost their temper and ‘flipped’ and then violently threw Ms Cotterill into one of the chillers in the supermarket.
As a result of this incident and the unacceptable behaviour of the member of staff, Ms Louisa Cotterill sustained injuries to her neck, back and shoulder and had to have medical treatment from a physiotherapist and a chiropractor.
Sainsbury’s which operates a chain of 509 supermarkets and 276 convenience stores, admitted they were liable for the accident in their store and have awarded Ms Louisa Cotterill an undisclosed amount in personal injury compensation.
Mr Cotterill has commented on this accident and said: “I’m still in pain now - they have told me to expect it to take at least a year before things are back to normal.”
The popular supermarket, Tesco, has had to pay a considerable amount of personal injury compensation this month to an employee after they injured themselves due to an accident at work in 2006.
The general assistant of a Tesco store, Mr Darryl Mosely, was carrying out his everyday duties in the supermarket and was operating one of the machines in the store to enable him to move cages in the warehouse. The machine did not work correctly, so Mr Mosley attempted to repair the machine. However, upon doing so, he cut his finger off in the machine and was immediately taken to hospital, where he received medical treatment and had to stay there for 24 hours.
After the accident occurred, Mr Darryl Mosely commenced with legal proceedings against his employers at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court.
It was heard during the court proceedings that the mechanism on the machine was not working correctly, causing the accident. It was also stated that Mr Mosely had not been given the correct training to carry out a repair on the machinery.
The supermarket bosses admitted liability for the accident at work and pleaded guilty for failing to ensure the safety of their employee in his workplace.
Mr Darryl Mosely was awarded £30,000 in personal injury compensation for the injuries he sustained.
An ambulance technician has been injured due to an accident at work caused by the actions of his colleague and has been awarded compensation for injury as a result.
It was heard that the unnamed man was attending to a patient in the back of the ambulance after answering an emergency call and then travelled to the hospital. However, the colleague of the injured man, who was the ambulance driver, was driving slightly erratically and speeding too much during the journey. The injured ambulance technician requested that the driver slow down or drive more smoothly, but this request was not carried out.
Due to the erratic driving, the ambulance hit a kerb and the vehicle swayed. The ambulance technician fell and landed awkwardly against a chair and as a result injured his back. The patient in the ambulance also fell out of the trolley.
Due to this accident at work, the injured ambulance technician was unable to return to his current employment and needed numerous months of medical treatment for the injuries he sustained to his back.
After this accident occurred, the injured ambulance technician commenced with legal proceedings against his employers as he believes they were responsible for the erratic actions of his colleague.
Court proceedings had to commence, as the injured worker’s employer denied any liability for the accident at work or the injuries he sustained as a result. However, during the proceedings it was found that the driver of the vehicle failed in his duty of care for the safety of his passengers in the ambulance. Therefore, the injured ambulance technician was awarded £15,000 in personal injury compensation.
A driver has been awarded personal injury compensation after he was injured due to an accident a work when he was provided with a vehicle to drive by his employer that was faulty.
It was heard that the unnamed injured driver was carrying out his everyday duties and making a delivery to a clothing store when the accident occurred. The driver opened the door of his vehicle to ensure that the tail lift was operating as it should be and raised and lowered it.
Firstly the tail lift moved to an unusual angle so he then tried again. The tail lift then seemed to be working correctly and the driver stepped onto it. He then raised the tail lift to the unloading position to enable him to remove the items from the trailer.
The tail lift suddenly came away from the trailer and fell to the ground, which then caused the delivery driver to fall. The driver suffered injuries to his back, neck and shoulders and had to take time off work and receive physiotherapy for the injuries he sustained.
The injured delivery driver believes that his employers were responsible for this accident at work, due to their providing him with a faulty vehicle. He then commenced with legal proceedings to make a claim for personal injury compensation.
The delivery driver’s employers admitted liability for the accident at work and a settlement of £13,000 compensation for injury was awarded to the injured delivery driver.
A cyclist, who was not wearing a protective helmet, has been awarded personal injury compensation after he was involved in a collision with a motorcycle.
Mr Robert Smith sustained severe injuries when he was hit by a motorcycle and knocked off his bicycle when the motorcycle was attempting to overtake him. The court stated that the motorcyclist was liable for the accident and the injuries Mr Smith sustained as the motorcyclist was travelling over 30 mph which was the speed limit and on the road that they were travelling had very limited space for manoeuvre.
The insurers of the motorcyclist claimed that Mr Robert Smith should only receive 25 per cent of his personal injury compensation claim as he had not been wearing a protective helmet and that this contributed to the accident and personal injuries he sustained. However, upon review of the Highway Code, it only recommends that cyclists wear protective headwear and there is no current law that states that cyclists have a legal obligation to do so.
Although the motorcyclist’s insurers claim that Mr Smith was partly responsible for the injuries he sustained, they were unable to provide any evidence to suggest that Mr Smith would have suffered less severe injuries if he has been wearing a helmet.
A young man who was learning to drive has been taken to hospital after a coach went into the back of the vehicle in which he was learning to drive.
The learner driver, Mr Lee Campbell, who is 24 years of age and also a Royal Navy Serviceman, was on his first lesson and had stopped at traffic lights that were on red in Portsmouth. However, a coach driver who was travelling at high speed did not stop behind the learner driver and crashed in to the rear of his vehicle.
Mr Lee Campbell was immediately taken to hospital, where he was treated by medical staff and diagnosed with whiplash injury.
Mr Campbell has commented on this road traffic accident and said:
“I had stopped and looked in my rear view mirror and saw a coach speeding towards me. It was really scary, I got quite bad whiplash. The fire brigade turned up and were going to cut me out, but I said I was OK.”
The driving instructor, Mr Nigel Gray, was also taken to hospital after the road traffic accident where he was checked for any personal injuries.
It has not yet been established whether Mr Lee Campbell or Mr Nigel Gray intend to pursue a claim for whiplash or a personal injury compensation claim.
The Scottish government have recently announced that they could save tax payers over £50million when they reduce the number of personal injury compensation claims that are being made.
This decision was agreed this month between Westminster and Holyrood when they stated personal injury claims must be made within a year and not the usual three year timescale. However, reports have stated that this new agreement may leave Scotland with a costly legacy.
It has been heard that almost 200 cases have been made against the Scottish government every month and over £11 million has been paid out to settle the claims, also 3,700 of the claims have been made by prisoners.
It was recently stated that this decision has ended numerous human rights challenges that have been brought to light by prisoners.
Even though a further £67million has been put aside and earmarked to settle compensation for injury claims, this new ruling of making a claim within one year could mean a cut of £50million.
After the agreement was made, the UK government will now fine tune the law to extend Holyrood’s power on a temporary basis.
Personal injury compensation has been awarded to a teacher who was attacked by a pupil, after the school bosses failed to advise the injured teacher of the possible dangers involved.
It was heard that the injured teacher, Mr Colin Adams, who is 51 years of age, was working as a teacher at the Kingswood Community School and had done so for the last 8 years, when a pupil, aged 12 years old jumped on Mr Adams’ back. The pupil then attempted to strangle Mr Adams as he lay unconscious on the floor in a corridor of the school.
Mr Adams had been on his way to seek assistance from a fellow colleague to discipline the dangerous student, as he was disrupting a class. Due to the injuries Mr Adams sustained, he was unable to return to work and was forced to take early retirement as he was left with post traumatic stress disorder.
Prior to this incident, the pupil had previously attacked a security guard at a library. However, the head teacher knew of this episode, but failed to warn the staff and other teachers.
During court proceedings, Mr Adams was awarded personal injury compensation to the sum of £275,000 after he was not informed of the dangers within the school.
Mr Adams has commented on the whole situation and said:
“Teaching is the best job I have ever had but I have been forced to give it up as a result of this incident. If I had known this student had had a history of violence I would never have turned my back on him. Instead I’ve been left unable to cope with children and have been forced to take ill health retirement.
“More help needs to be given to teachers who find themselves in similar circumstances. Schools need to take violence seriously and the Local Education Authority needs to be in a position to provide psychiatric help from those specialising in victims of assault to ensure teachers feel mentally prepared to return to the job.”
A woman who suffered serious head injuries has been seeking legal advice to help her claim personal injury compensation after she was injured due to an accident at work, whilst working as a dinner lady.
The injured dinner lady, Ms Michelle Orchard, suffered brain damage after a pupil ran in to her whilst playing a game of tag at the school she was employed at.
It was heard that the pupil, who was 13 years of age, fell backwards into Ms Orchard and as a result she hit her face with the back of the pupil’s head. Ms Orchard sustained damage to her teeth and a broken nose and because the force of the impact was so hard, Ms Orchard suffered partial paralysis and problems with her balance.
Ms Orchard had to stay in hospital for almost six weeks as a result of the accident at work and has been unable to return back to work at Corfe Hill School, situated in a large village near Bournemouth.
During the court appeal for compensation for injury, Lord Justice Waller, Lord Justice Rimer and Lord Justice Aikens have not come to a decision as yet for the personal injury compensation claim and it was heard that this would be decided at a later date.
A man has been awarded a substantial amount of personal injury compensation this month, after he sustained serious injuries to his head in a road traffic accident that occurred almost 10 years ago.
It was heard that Mr Danny Griffin was travelling in a vehicle as a passenger in a friend’s car in 1998. The driver of the vehicle lost control and the car collided with a garden wall and landed on its side in the area of South East London.
When the vehicle hit the garden wall, Mr Danny Griffin suffered a fracture to his skull as a result of the impact of the crash. Mr Griffin was immediately taken to hospital and treated. However, when Mr Griffin was released from hospital his condition deteriorated and he then continued to suffer from numerous psychiatric episodes and as a result of this he was sectioned seven years later.
Recent reports show that Mr Danny Griffin’s condition has now improved as he continues to receive treatment in a specialist unit in St Helens.
Mr Griffins claim for personal injury compensation was heard at a recent high court hearing and the judge ruled in favour of Mr Griffin. Mr Griffin was then awarded £6.3 million in personal injury compensation, which will be used to cover the cost of treatment, which he will continue to require for the rest of his life.
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