Industrial Accident Victim Receives £350,000 in Compensation

Despite rigorous health and safety improvements over the years, industrial accidents are still not as rare as they could be. However, as a High Court case showed, it is a personal injury lawyer’s mission in life to expose negligence and ensure that victims are justly compensated.

The case…

Dec 18, 2023

The case concerned a middle-aged plant operator whose left arm was crushed as he attempted to retrieve a piece of metal that had become caught in a heavy machine. He needed extensive skin grafts and underwent a succession of operations to fixate shattered bones. His recovery was complicated by infection; the limb had to be immobilised for many months and, despite gruelling rehabilitation, he remains significantly disabled.

After he lodged a personal injury claim, the company for which he was working at the time admitted liability for the accident in full. However, the case was complicated by his diagnosis with a rare neurological condition about two years after the accident. The condition, which was unconnected to the accident, affected the value of his claim in that it greatly reduced his life expectancy and would probably have rendered him unable to work in any event.

His legal team, however, succeeded in overcoming those difficulties by negotiating a £350,000 lump-sum settlement of his claim. In approving that outcome, the Court expressed its deepest sympathy and noted that his last years of healthy life had been blighted by the accident. Although his condition was progressive, the Court hoped that the settlement would enable him to live as comfortably as possible.

Employee Bonuses – A Commitment is a Commitment

When it comes to bonuses, commitments made to employees must be honoured. An Employment Tribunal (ET) made that point in coming to the aid of a salesman whose employer prevaricated on its obligation to reward him with a six-figure sum following his successful closure of a multi-million-pound deal. The software salesman and his team spent many months negotiating the deal. His line manager later assured him that he would receive an exceptional six-figure bonus to mark his success and that the…

Proving a Link Between Unfair Treatment and Discrimination Can Be Tough

It may be relatively straightforward to prove you have suffered unfair treatment at work, but establishing that such treatment results from discrimination can pose a far greater challenge. This was certainly so in an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case concerning a forklift truck driver. The man launched proceedings following two fractious confrontations between him and colleagues in the car park of the premises where he worked for a logistics company. He alleged that he was falsely and…

High Court Apportions Liability for Worker’s Construction Site Fall

Construction workers often do not have formal employment contracts and, in a world where contractors and subcontractors proliferate, it can be hard to tell where legal responsibility lies in the event of an accident. That was certainly so in a High Court case concerning a labourer who suffered catastrophic injuries in a workplace fall. The worker was engaged in building a mezzanine office at factory premises when he fell onto concrete, fracturing his skull. He suffered a severe brain injury,…