Minimally Conscious Accident Victim Gets Seven-Figure Compensation

Accidents at work can have devastating consequences and it is very often true that no amount of money can ever make up for the pain and suffering involved. A case concerning a man in a minimally conscious state showed, however, that specialist lawyers can at least help to soften the…

Dec 16, 2021

The middle-aged man was working as acting foreman for a manufacturing company when the accident occurred. He was helping out short-handed contractors in the factory where he was employed when he fell from height. The precise circumstances of the accident remained unclear, but he had received no training whatsoever in working high up. He sustained catastrophic head injuries and had never regained consciousness.

His condition was closely aligned to a persistent vegetative state but he had retained some level of minimal consciousness. Cared for in a nursing home, he responded to contact with his wife and family. Experts were of the view that his condition would not improve and that his life expectancy was relatively short. His wife, however, firmly believed that he would get better and that he would live for many more years.

After proceedings were brought against the contractors and his employer at the time, primary liability for the accident was acknowledged. The value of his claim was disputed and it was argued that he was in part responsible for his own misfortune. His legal team, however, managed to cut through those difficult issues by negotiating a £1,050,000 lump-sum settlement of his claim.

Approving the settlement, the High Court noted that the money would be used to top up his NHS-funded care regime. The accident was a tragedy for him and his family and the Court was moved by the great difficulties his wife had faced in visiting him and assisting in his care during the COVID-19 pandemic. All involved in the case hoped that she was right in her conviction that his condition would improve. Her care for him since the accident had been quite remarkable.

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,…

Disability Discrimination – Diabetic Cake Shop Worker Compensated

Discrimination against disabled employees is a social evil with which Employment Tribunals (ETs) will have no truck. In one case, a cake shop worker who was dismissed because of her diabetes was awarded thousands of pounds in compensation. The woman’s condition meant that, without daily insulin injections, she would suffer a hypoglycaemic episode and fall into a coma. At the date of her dismissal, she was in stage B renal failure. In sacking her by text, her manager expressed the view that she…

Marital Discrimination – ET Failed to Ask the Right Question

To treat employees unfavourably because they are married amounts, unsurprisingly, to unlawful discrimination. However, as one case showed, proving a causal link between such treatment and marital status can be highly demanding. The case concerned a bookkeeper who was married to the principal shareholder of the company for which she worked. After their relationship ended in acrimonious divorce, she was dismissed by the company’s managing director (MD). An Employment Tribunal (ET) subsequently…