Firefighters compensated for sickness caused by polluted Training Centre 66 firefighters awarded compensation after falling sick following flood training. Members of the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) from around the UK have been awarded compensation after flood rescue training left them with stomach sickness. The training sessions took place at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham between 2008 and 2012 after the UK government required all fire brigades to undertake 'Swift Water Rescue Training' in response to widespread flooding across the UK. Several different fire brigades sent firefighters to take part in the training at Nottingham's National Watersports Centre, which was able to replicate the fast-flowing water conditions of floods. However, the water at the centre comes from the River Trent - a polluted water source that was found to contain harmful pathogens and bacteria. Due to the physically demanding nature of the training, many of the firefighters ingested the infected water, which caused them to suffer from diarrhoea and sickness. Nearly all of the firefighters fell ill following the training, which led to the FBU to instruct personal injury solicitors to investigate the claims. The solicitors found that the water at the National Watersports Centre posed a public health risk and…

Man awarded compensation after contracting cancer due to being exposed to asbestos A 64-year-old man has been awarded £245,000 in compensation after he was exposed to asbestos and developed mesothelioma. In July 2014 whilst on holiday in Cyprus, the man began having breathing difficulties and on his return he saw his GP. A scan showed that one of his lungs were filled with fluid. This was drained and he was sent for a biopsy. When he received the results in December 2014, it was confirmed that the gentleman had asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma. As a member of the Unite Union, he contacted Unite Legal Services, who got in touch with personal injury solicitors and they were asked to make a claim on the man’s behalf. An investigation was then carried out to identify when he was exposed to asbestos. The father of two began working for a rail company in 1966 as a trainee cleaner and fireman. He was responsible for delivering correspondence to teams around the train depot. He also had the task of cleaning out the train maintenance shed on a regular basis. After his training, the gentleman was promoted to fireman and worked on the footplates of the trains.…

£1 million awarded to man after medical negligence leaves him partially paralysed Personal injury solicitors have helped a man secure more that £1 million after he has been left partially paralysed due to medical negligence at Warwick Hospital. The 61-year-old man had gone into hospital for a routine operation on his hip where he was given an epidural in his back to ease the pain. Four days after the procedure, the man returned to Warwick Hospital suffering with severe back pain. Staff at the hospital failed to carry out adequate tests to determine the cause of the gentleman’s pain, especially so soon after his surgery. The man was admitted to hospital and had an MRI scan two days later. The scan revealed that the pain was caused by a large abscess on his spine. He was taken into theatre as an emergency to drain the abscess but unfortunately the infection had caused paraplegia. If the MRI scan had been carried out earlier, the life changing injuries that the man sustained could have been avoided. Before the gentleman underwent his initial hip surgery, he was very active and enjoyed football, running and shooting. However, the 61-year-old now has to use a…

Action plan in place to eliminate unethical personal injury marketing practices Key stakeholders in parliament have agreed to an action plan aimed to eliminate unethical marketing practices from the personal injury sector. The National Accident Helpline recently organised a roundtable event which saw parliamentarians, regulators, law firms and claims management companies come together to discuss dishonest behaviour and how to put an end to it. 50 organisations from the personal injury sector have signed up to the Ethical Marketing Charter since July this year. This means that they have agreed not to cold call, text or email, not to unethically buy accident data and also not to use misleading advertising. CEO of the National Accident Helpline Russell Atkinson said that for the goal to be successful in eliminating bad practice, the charter must be a ‘truly industry-lead approach’. Attendees of the roundtable agreed that further action is needed to challenge unethical marketing and an action plan was developed. This includes improving the understanding of how to report cold calling and bad marketing tactics and for regulatory bodies to be able to share information easier and more efficiently. In addition to these, the plan also includes ensuring that law firms undertake…

Research reveals lack of support for brain injury sufferers going back to work New research has revealed that UK employers are ill-informed and under-equipped to support employees with brain injuries. After client feedback, Hudgell Solicitors have noted the distinct lack of support for those returning to work after a brain injury. To create awareness for this issue, the firm have created images which visualise some of the comments they received in the survey. Some examples of the responses receives are: 'They don't understand my injury or the nuances that come with it' and 'I didn't tell HR the full story because I don't think they would have understood'. Hudgell Solicitors, along with brain injury charity Headway, found that there were 162,544 hospital admissions for head injuries in 2013/2014. Speaking about the issue, Kent Pattinson, a solicitor at Hull firm Hudgell said: 'There are strategies which employers ought to put in place to assist employees on their return to work following a brain injury. However, it is rare for employers to conduct occupational health and vocational assessments when clients return to work.' Strategic diversity and inclusion expert Charlotte Sweeney has suggested working closely with employees to gain a full understanding of…

NHS faces a £2bn deficit if cost recovery legislation is not updated A leading personal injury lawyer has suggested that the NHS could increase its annual income via update oto the current cost recovery legislation. A report by executive public body of the Department of Health, Monitor, has shown that the NHS trusts are currently in the ‘worst financial crisis in a generation’. An overall deficit of £930 million has been recorded in the first three months of the financial year. A prediction of a £2 billion deficit is predicted for the 2015/2016 financial year. Trevor Sterling, a partner at Moore Blatch, has written to the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, explaining the scale of the problem and calling for a change. He said, 'There is an urgent need for review of this legislation, which could go a considerable way to help alleviate the financial burden that many trusts are reporting,' As part of the personal injury process, the NHS have claimed back over £200m in 2013/2014, and individual Major Trauma Centre's recovered around £3m. The NHS is currently allowed to claim back a fixed tariff repayment of £796 per day for patients in hospital, with a cap of £47,569 per patient.…

Lord Dyson suggests that idea of ‘compensation culture’ does not match what happens in court Master of the Rolls and the head of civil justice, Lord Dyson has said that the perception of the ‘compensation culture’ does not match what happens in court. Speaking at the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire’s annual law lecture, Lord Dyson said that the courts have not ‘lowered the hurdles’ for the claimants. He added that claimants are often discouraged from going to court because of ‘exorbitant’ legal fees and that lawyers should do everything they can to ‘explode the false perception of compensation culture’. Continuing with his outspoken speech, Dyson said: Our courts are well aware of the dangers of contributing to the idea that all injuries should result in compensatory awards. The law is fault-based. It requires a claimant to establish a duty of care, breach and causation of loss. These are not always straightforward matters and if a claimant fails to establish any one of them, his claim fails. He went on to cite examples of the courts and justice systems rejecting claims, one of which was Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council, where the House of Lords rejected a claim after the claimant broke…

Man awarded six-figure sum after workplace fall cost him his job A 48 year old man who was seriously injured in a workplace fall received a six-figure compensation pay out earlier this month. The ex-prison officer was on guard dog patrol when he slipped on a path which hadn’t been gritted. The fall resulted in him fracturing his right foot. However, what could have been a simple accident was made much worse for the gentleman when complications saw him medically retired for his decade-long career in the prison service. Before the accident, the man was extremely active and enjoyed cycling and playing football, cricket and golf. He now requires a large amount of care from his family and has been warned by doctors that he is at a 25% risk of needing his foot amputated in the future. His solicitors, with the help of the Prison Officers Association (POA), made a case against the man’s employers, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). On October 7th 2015, the court ruled in favour of the claimant and the MOJ was ordered to pay a compensation sum of almost £500,000. Speaking about his situation, the claimant said: It is a bitter blow to suffer an…