Compensation News:
Catholic Church is Found Liable for Priest's Actions in Child Abuse Test Case: A high court ruling has found that the Catholic Church can be held responsible for the wrongdoing of its priests. It is thought that this could make it easier for victims of priests to get the compensation they deserve. A test case which found in favour of a woman who was sexually assaulted by a priest in a Portsmouth children's home, ruled that the church had provided the premises, the means, the...
Illegal Immigrant Given Compensation for Having to Wait to be Deported?: An illegal immigrant has been given £17,000 in compensation after it was found that he was falsely imprisoned for four months. The man had arrived in the country as a stowaway and then was found to have committed up to 20 offences. 28 year old Joseph Mjemer took legal action and argued that he was illegally held while his identity and place of birth was established. This was so immigration o...
Burden of Claims Costs to the British Public Still Rising?: James Dalton from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has given a speech at a whiplash conference this week where he quoted that the numbers of people claiming for the injury has increased by 32% in the last three years. The is the equivalent of 570,000 claims a year or one person every minute of the day. This figure has even increased despite a fall in the number of accidents reported to th...
Homeserve Insurance Mis-selling and Pressure Tactics Finally Appear on FSA Radar: It is being suggested that the next big mis-selling scandal could involve the UK's "5th emergency service" Homeserve. The company has, this week, stopped all sales calls from its call centres amid questions regarding scare tactics used by their call centre staff. The scandal has also led to more than £500 million being wiped off the company's share price. A report released this week has foun...
Unfair Dismissal Laws Could be Changed so it is Easier to Sack Unproductive Employees: A leaked report from Downing Street appears to confirm that companies may be given the right to sack workers who are unproductive. The report suggests that the current employment laws are uneconomic and should be changed. In addition it claims that people in the UK should not be able to claim for unfair dismissal to make it easier for firms to find replacements who do a better job. This would have...
North West of England are No.1 for Injury Compensation and Claims Companies?: It has been revealed that the North West of England is the number one place when it comes to insurance claims which involved bodily injury compensation claims. The research conducted by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries revealed that 43% of claims of this nature came from this region, while the North East of Scotland scored just 13%. In addition, the areas where most claims were made happened...
£347,000 Bill for Criminal's Complaints about Dental Care in Prison: Prisoners at Wakefield Prison have been given compensation after they received poor dental care. The 24 inmates were awarded a total of £47,000 and £300,000 in legal fees. The Primary Care Trust for the area has said that they had long waiting lists for prison treatment which resulted from when they took over in 2005. They say that prison inmate dental health is often poor and more dif...
Financial Compensation Proposals for Egg and Organ Donors: The Nuffield Council for Bioethics has suggested that organ donors and egg donors should be compensated for their agreement to allow their body parts to be used. A report published by the organisation has suggested that altruism should be at the forefront of the decision to be a donor, but that financial incentives may improve donation levels. They say that paying for funerals could be ethically j...
Scottish Pleural Plaque Asbestos Compensation Claims Given Go Ahead: The Supreme Court has thrown out a challenge by the insurance industry regarding whether they would be required to pay compensation to victims of asbestos poisoning. The news means that more than 1,000 people who have suffered with lung damage due to asbestos can take their claims to court. The ruling applies to cases brought in Scotland where insurance companies have been fighting a Scottish law ...
Bonuses Being Paid to Insurance Employees Fighting Asbestos Compensation Claims: Insurance companies are being criticised this week after it was revealed that insurance executives who are fighting a legal battle to limit the amount of compensation asbestos victims can receive are taking home huge bonuses for doing so. Ian Willet from Municipal Mutual Insurance has told courts that he and a colleague were paid extra because they managed to save the company money in an asbestos ...
Fraudulent Insurance Claim Results in Jail Term: Insurance company LV= has won a court battle against a personal injury fraudster and is now calling for a change in the law to prevent these sorts of claims going ahead in the future. The proceedings were taken against Minaxi Shah who had claimed damages for personal injuries sustained in a car accident. She had said that as a result of her injuries she was left permanently disabled, unable to wor...
Tesco Seeks £4m Riot Compensation whilst Unfair Dismissal Laws Change: It has emerged that Tesco has issued the police with a request for compensation for damage caused to their stores during the riots this summer. The compensation is for £3 million and comes from 20 Tesco stores around the country. The smallest request is for just £40. The claim is being made under the Riot Damages Act which allows the public and retailers to get compensation directly fr...
Women Offered Backpay for Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: It has been ruled that hundreds of thousands of women should be entitled to backpay in an equality test case involving Sheffield city council. The case was due to go to the Supreme Court next month, but the council have now agreed to not appeal and pay the 1,100 lunchtime staff, cleaner sand carers. It is thought that this case could now lead to other workers in similar positions getting the compe...
No Compensation for Pre-Paid Cards Warns Financial Services Compensation Scheme: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is warning consumers this week that e-payment cards and prepayment credit cards are not covered by their compensation scheme. This could mean that if the company behind the card was to go out of business, all of the money on the card could be lost. The FSCS will not offer any compensation to the card-holder because they do not cover this type of ca...
Milly Dowler's Family Offered £2m Compensation from News of the World's Rupert Murdoch: The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler have this week been offered a compensation payment of £2 million from the Murdoch empire for the hacking of their daughter's phone while she was missing. In addition Rupert Murdoch has said he will give £1 million to charity. The hacking of the phone was the most shocking fact to come out of the recent events which led to the demise of The...
Police Warn of PPI Compensation Scammers: Nottinghamshire police are warning local residents of a compensation scam which has led to hundreds of pounds being given to fraudsters. Callers who claim to be from the Ministry of Justice are telling residents they could be entitled to PPI compensation. The victim is then told they must pay an administration fee via Western Union or PayPoint. DC Simon Gunn from the Fraud Investigation Unit has c...
Terrorism Suspect Compensated for False Arrest: A student who downloaded a copy of the al-Qa'ida training Manual for his PHD course has been paid £20,000 in compensation after he was arrested on suspicion of being a terrorist. Rizwaan Sabir was researching counter terrorism and was held for seven days after he downloaded the manual. It is available from Amazon. Mr Sabir says he has been fighting for three years to clear his name and says ...
Sainsbury's Supermarket Turns Down Riot Compensation: Sainsbury's supermarket have said that they will not be claiming compensation for the damage caused to their stores during the riots across the UK last month. The retailer was badly affected by looting and is therefore eligible to apply for damages under the Riot Damages Act. However the chief executive Justin King has said that they will not be asking for the money so that there is more to go rou...
New Libyan Government to Pay Compensation for Old Regime Terrorism: Prime Minister David Cameron has announced this week that he will press the new Libyan government to compensate the victims of IRA terrorism which was sponsored by the previous administration. Mr Cameron made the announcement in the commons on Wednesday and said he will pursue the Libyans for a compensation package. It is thought that a package of £400m will be in place for IRA victims plus ...
Retailers Hit Out Against Compensation Culture: A woman from Crynant in South Wales has been offered compensation and a new washing machine after her old one exploded just moments after her son walked past it. The Hoover-Candy machine is one of eight others which have suffered the same fate in recent months and could be among hundreds which have been reported by engineers. Anna Ewers has described how she heard a loud boom from the laundry room...
215 million Paid out in PPI Miss-selling so far This Year: Figures released by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have shown that £215 million in compensation payments have been paid to victims of PPI miss-selling in the first half of this year alone. The cash was paid out by a total of 16 different firms, which have not been named. Almost half of this amount was paid out during May and June alone, while the monthly total earlier in the year amo...
Compensation Claim for Disability Discrimination Dismissed: A worker from Yardley Birmingham has lost his case against his employers for compensation after he was made redundant. David Fletcher claimed that the was the only person to be made redundant from Map UK Ltd because he was disabled due to diabetes and kidney failure. He alleged unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. However his claim was rejected after it was found that he had been offere...
Admiral Blames Compensation Claims but is Against Referral Fee Ban?: Admiral insurance have suffered a 12% drop in share prices which has been blamed on the rise in compensation claims relating to car accidents. However a growth in referral fees for these compensation claims have been singled out as a growth area for the company by industry analysts. Admiral have suggested that they would like to see a cap on legal fees - going against the ban on referral fees sugg...
Weight Loss Drug Acomplia Linked to Depression and Suicide: Patients who were prescribed a drug for weight loss are taking legal action after it turned out the drug led to them becoming suicidal and depressed. The drug, Acomplia was taken off the market two years ago after claims it caused psychiatric conditions. In fact, at least one person committed suicide while on the drug and 1300 people reported side effects. Some of these people had to leave their j...
40,000 Women Receive Potentially Faulty Operation: The NHS is facing a huge number of compensation claims after it has been found that an operation designed to improve the incontinence which can come from childbirth has left women with worse health issues. Up to 40,000 women are thought to have received the operation and it is thought that 10% of these may have had trouble with the procedure. The operation involves a mesh being used to hold up the...
14.5million Paid in Compensation to Asylum Seekers and Immigrants: New figures released by the UK Border Agency have revealed that a total of £14.2 million was paid out last year in compensation and legal costs to asylum seekers and immigrants. This is £2 million more than the previous year. Payments included those made to families who were unlawfully detained or removed from the country and to those who were injured while being detained. The report r...
Riot Compensation Promises & Milly Dowler Killer to Claim for Injuries: Homeowners and businesses affected by the riots which have taken place this week all over the UK have been reassured by The Association of British Insurers that their claims for compensation will be paid and that the Home Secretary has agreed to extend the claim period to 42 days. The police compensation scheme is designed to cover homeowners and business owners for any damage which occurs during ...
The "threat" of potential compensation claims do not make UK services work safer: Five patients of an orthopaedic doctor Manjit Bharma have been awarded £750,000 compensation after they were left with permanent mobility problems following surgery. The doctor is still working within the NHS despite these claims. One patient was left with damage to a major nerve and pain which has prevented him from working. Another 23 year old required a hip replacement and was given the w...
It's been a down and dirty week in the compensation industry: Victims of the nuclear testing carried out by the government in the Pacific during the 1950's have come one step closer to receiving compensation this week. They have been given permission by the Supreme Court to argue for the right to compensation. The Court of Appeal had previously ruled that there was no right to claim damages, the Supreme Court has said that this decision can be fought. A furt...
UK Paying Compensation Around the World - (The Daily Mail must be drooling over such stories!): The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed this week that it has paid £100,000 in compensation to the family of a teenager in Iraq who died of drowning near Basra while in the custody of UK troops. It was found that the boy was forced into the water at gunpoint by British soldiers. The MoD have said that the decision to pay compensation was based on whether they had a legal liability to do ...
Claims Company Apps on the Rise & Insurers Next PPI Claim Target: A new app for the iPhone has been released which includes an unfair dismissal compensation calculator. The app is aimed at employers who want to find out how much they will have to pay. The app was designed by law firm MacRoberts and also contains links to Acas and the Equal Opportunities Commission as well as giving general legal information and advice. Graham Mitchell from the law firm has comme...
Fell into a vat of Curry? Fired for having a stroke? Far-fetched concepts now an almost common reality: It has emerged this week that council bosses in Brighton and Hove have paid £7,000 to a boy in compensation after he fell into a disused air raid shelter. The boy had climbed over the school fence to retrieve his ball and had been standing on the roof of the shelter when it collapsed. A similar incident occurred after a child fell down a manhole in a playing field. This resulted in a payment...
Claims for Financial Failures such Keydata & Equitable Life Swift - Unlike MOD Compensation: The families of three soldiers who were killed in Iraq have failed to win compensation from the government after they claimed that the MoD should have provided armoured vehicles to protect their family members. Despite not being allowed to sue for compensation they have been given the right to claim for negligence. Despite this the lawyers acting for the families say they will appeal. The original...
Criminals have claimed over £10million whilst in prison: It has been found that claims for compensation made by prisoners in the UK over the last five years have amounted that more than £10 million. The figures were obtained by the Press Association and showed two payments made last year were for more than £100,000. The highest payment was £2.8 million. A spokesperson from the ministry of Justice has claimed that most compensation clai...
Prisoners get compensation, airline passengers don't, compensation payouts to avoid jail terms ... what's going on?: A new website is about to be launched to help airline passengers claim compensation which has been unclaimed. The website is called EUclaim and has been launched partially in response to the Ryanair announcement that it will only deal with passenger claims directly. The websites allows passengers to fill in template forms to help them make claims they are entitled to. It is estimated that 1,000 pa...
Compensation payout figures and claims now seem to have the words "million" and "billion" in them a lot more: Barclays Bank has agreed to pay compensation to any customer who made a Payment Protection Insurance miss-selling claim prior to April 20. The payments will be made regardless of the circumstances of the claim and its validity. It is thought that the bank has taken this approach to clear the huge backlog of complaints which it is required to deal with. The claimants involved will get their premium...
As Deliberations Begin over Capping Discrimination Payouts, Cheryl Cole's Expectations from the US Can Be Higher: A group of chief executives and other top management executives from a number of companies have approached ministers to suggest that the compensation awards for discrimination should be capped at £50,000. The men include the chairman of PriceWaterhouseCoopers and is led by Sir Michael Snyder the former City of London Corporation policy chief. The 25 strong group have been in discussions with...
For those of you who worried we'd end up like the US ... you were right: An Austrian aristocrat who spent six days in a UK prison has complained that he was not treated well and is now saying he will receive £372,000 in compensation. Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly was being held while he was questioned by the Serious Fraud Office on charges of bribery and corruption. He alleges that he was not given a comb or decent underwear during his stay. The compensation pay...
Compensation Likely to be Refused again for Airline Volcanic Ash Delays and the UK is the Whiplash Claim Capital: With a new volcanic eruption in Iceland, those who are booked to go on holiday in the next few days and weeks are questioning their right to compensation should their flights be cancelled or delayed. It is thought that the plume of ash from the Grimsvotn volcano will reach Scotland by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week and will reach England by the end of the week. The Civil Aviation Authority has ...
Legal Fees More Than 3 Times the Actual Compensation in Some Council Cases: Statistics provided by councils on Merseyside have indicated that compensation payments to school pupils amounted to £50,000 between 2008 and 2010. One claim for £750 resulted from custard being spilt on the arm of a child, while one pupil claimed £350 for falling over an unmarked ramp. Larger claims include £6,000 for a child who was hit in the eye and £4,500 for a p...
PPI Claims Go Ahead & MOD Compensation Increased: The banking industry has this week, confirmed they will be dropping their legal battle over the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). The British Bankers Association (BBA) have said they will not appeal against the recent case it lost which insisted that banks apply mis-selling rules retrospectively. This means that the banks involved have agreed to set aside billions to pay any futur...
Catholic Church is Found Liable for Priest's Actions in Child Abuse Test Case: A high court ruling has found that the Catholic Church can be held responsible for the wrongdoing of its priests. It is thought that this could make it easier for victims of priests to get the compensation they deserve. A test case which found in favour of a woman who was sexually assaulted by a priest in a Portsmouth children's home, ruled that the church had provided the premises, the means, the...
Illegal Immigrant Given Compensation for Having to Wait to be Deported?: An illegal immigrant has been given £17,000 in compensation after it was found that he was falsely imprisoned for four months. The man had arrived in the country as a stowaway and then was found to have committed up to 20 offences. 28 year old Joseph Mjemer took legal action and argued that he was illegally held while his identity and place of birth was established. This was so immigration o...
Burden of Claims Costs to the British Public Still Rising?: James Dalton from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has given a speech at a whiplash conference this week where he quoted that the numbers of people claiming for the injury has increased by 32% in the last three years. The is the equivalent of 570,000 claims a year or one person every minute of the day. This figure has even increased despite a fall in the number of accidents reported to th...
Homeserve Insurance Mis-selling and Pressure Tactics Finally Appear on FSA Radar: It is being suggested that the next big mis-selling scandal could involve the UK's "5th emergency service" Homeserve. The company has, this week, stopped all sales calls from its call centres amid questions regarding scare tactics used by their call centre staff. The scandal has also led to more than £500 million being wiped off the company's share price. A report released this week has foun...
Unfair Dismissal Laws Could be Changed so it is Easier to Sack Unproductive Employees: A leaked report from Downing Street appears to confirm that companies may be given the right to sack workers who are unproductive. The report suggests that the current employment laws are uneconomic and should be changed. In addition it claims that people in the UK should not be able to claim for unfair dismissal to make it easier for firms to find replacements who do a better job. This would have...
North West of England are No.1 for Injury Compensation and Claims Companies?: It has been revealed that the North West of England is the number one place when it comes to insurance claims which involved bodily injury compensation claims. The research conducted by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries revealed that 43% of claims of this nature came from this region, while the North East of Scotland scored just 13%. In addition, the areas where most claims were made happened...
£347,000 Bill for Criminal's Complaints about Dental Care in Prison: Prisoners at Wakefield Prison have been given compensation after they received poor dental care. The 24 inmates were awarded a total of £47,000 and £300,000 in legal fees. The Primary Care Trust for the area has said that they had long waiting lists for prison treatment which resulted from when they took over in 2005. They say that prison inmate dental health is often poor and more dif...
Financial Compensation Proposals for Egg and Organ Donors: The Nuffield Council for Bioethics has suggested that organ donors and egg donors should be compensated for their agreement to allow their body parts to be used. A report published by the organisation has suggested that altruism should be at the forefront of the decision to be a donor, but that financial incentives may improve donation levels. They say that paying for funerals could be ethically j...
Scottish Pleural Plaque Asbestos Compensation Claims Given Go Ahead: The Supreme Court has thrown out a challenge by the insurance industry regarding whether they would be required to pay compensation to victims of asbestos poisoning. The news means that more than 1,000 people who have suffered with lung damage due to asbestos can take their claims to court. The ruling applies to cases brought in Scotland where insurance companies have been fighting a Scottish law ...
Bonuses Being Paid to Insurance Employees Fighting Asbestos Compensation Claims: Insurance companies are being criticised this week after it was revealed that insurance executives who are fighting a legal battle to limit the amount of compensation asbestos victims can receive are taking home huge bonuses for doing so. Ian Willet from Municipal Mutual Insurance has told courts that he and a colleague were paid extra because they managed to save the company money in an asbestos ...
Fraudulent Insurance Claim Results in Jail Term: Insurance company LV= has won a court battle against a personal injury fraudster and is now calling for a change in the law to prevent these sorts of claims going ahead in the future. The proceedings were taken against Minaxi Shah who had claimed damages for personal injuries sustained in a car accident. She had said that as a result of her injuries she was left permanently disabled, unable to wor...
Tesco Seeks £4m Riot Compensation whilst Unfair Dismissal Laws Change: It has emerged that Tesco has issued the police with a request for compensation for damage caused to their stores during the riots this summer. The compensation is for £3 million and comes from 20 Tesco stores around the country. The smallest request is for just £40. The claim is being made under the Riot Damages Act which allows the public and retailers to get compensation directly fr...
Women Offered Backpay for Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: It has been ruled that hundreds of thousands of women should be entitled to backpay in an equality test case involving Sheffield city council. The case was due to go to the Supreme Court next month, but the council have now agreed to not appeal and pay the 1,100 lunchtime staff, cleaner sand carers. It is thought that this case could now lead to other workers in similar positions getting the compe...
No Compensation for Pre-Paid Cards Warns Financial Services Compensation Scheme: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is warning consumers this week that e-payment cards and prepayment credit cards are not covered by their compensation scheme. This could mean that if the company behind the card was to go out of business, all of the money on the card could be lost. The FSCS will not offer any compensation to the card-holder because they do not cover this type of ca...
Milly Dowler's Family Offered £2m Compensation from News of the World's Rupert Murdoch: The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler have this week been offered a compensation payment of £2 million from the Murdoch empire for the hacking of their daughter's phone while she was missing. In addition Rupert Murdoch has said he will give £1 million to charity. The hacking of the phone was the most shocking fact to come out of the recent events which led to the demise of The...
Police Warn of PPI Compensation Scammers: Nottinghamshire police are warning local residents of a compensation scam which has led to hundreds of pounds being given to fraudsters. Callers who claim to be from the Ministry of Justice are telling residents they could be entitled to PPI compensation. The victim is then told they must pay an administration fee via Western Union or PayPoint. DC Simon Gunn from the Fraud Investigation Unit has c...
Terrorism Suspect Compensated for False Arrest: A student who downloaded a copy of the al-Qa'ida training Manual for his PHD course has been paid £20,000 in compensation after he was arrested on suspicion of being a terrorist. Rizwaan Sabir was researching counter terrorism and was held for seven days after he downloaded the manual. It is available from Amazon. Mr Sabir says he has been fighting for three years to clear his name and says ...
Sainsbury's Supermarket Turns Down Riot Compensation: Sainsbury's supermarket have said that they will not be claiming compensation for the damage caused to their stores during the riots across the UK last month. The retailer was badly affected by looting and is therefore eligible to apply for damages under the Riot Damages Act. However the chief executive Justin King has said that they will not be asking for the money so that there is more to go rou...
New Libyan Government to Pay Compensation for Old Regime Terrorism: Prime Minister David Cameron has announced this week that he will press the new Libyan government to compensate the victims of IRA terrorism which was sponsored by the previous administration. Mr Cameron made the announcement in the commons on Wednesday and said he will pursue the Libyans for a compensation package. It is thought that a package of £400m will be in place for IRA victims plus ...
Retailers Hit Out Against Compensation Culture: A woman from Crynant in South Wales has been offered compensation and a new washing machine after her old one exploded just moments after her son walked past it. The Hoover-Candy machine is one of eight others which have suffered the same fate in recent months and could be among hundreds which have been reported by engineers. Anna Ewers has described how she heard a loud boom from the laundry room...
215 million Paid out in PPI Miss-selling so far This Year: Figures released by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have shown that £215 million in compensation payments have been paid to victims of PPI miss-selling in the first half of this year alone. The cash was paid out by a total of 16 different firms, which have not been named. Almost half of this amount was paid out during May and June alone, while the monthly total earlier in the year amo...
Compensation Claim for Disability Discrimination Dismissed: A worker from Yardley Birmingham has lost his case against his employers for compensation after he was made redundant. David Fletcher claimed that the was the only person to be made redundant from Map UK Ltd because he was disabled due to diabetes and kidney failure. He alleged unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. However his claim was rejected after it was found that he had been offere...
Admiral Blames Compensation Claims but is Against Referral Fee Ban?: Admiral insurance have suffered a 12% drop in share prices which has been blamed on the rise in compensation claims relating to car accidents. However a growth in referral fees for these compensation claims have been singled out as a growth area for the company by industry analysts. Admiral have suggested that they would like to see a cap on legal fees - going against the ban on referral fees sugg...
Weight Loss Drug Acomplia Linked to Depression and Suicide: Patients who were prescribed a drug for weight loss are taking legal action after it turned out the drug led to them becoming suicidal and depressed. The drug, Acomplia was taken off the market two years ago after claims it caused psychiatric conditions. In fact, at least one person committed suicide while on the drug and 1300 people reported side effects. Some of these people had to leave their j...
40,000 Women Receive Potentially Faulty Operation: The NHS is facing a huge number of compensation claims after it has been found that an operation designed to improve the incontinence which can come from childbirth has left women with worse health issues. Up to 40,000 women are thought to have received the operation and it is thought that 10% of these may have had trouble with the procedure. The operation involves a mesh being used to hold up the...
14.5million Paid in Compensation to Asylum Seekers and Immigrants: New figures released by the UK Border Agency have revealed that a total of £14.2 million was paid out last year in compensation and legal costs to asylum seekers and immigrants. This is £2 million more than the previous year. Payments included those made to families who were unlawfully detained or removed from the country and to those who were injured while being detained. The report r...
Riot Compensation Promises & Milly Dowler Killer to Claim for Injuries: Homeowners and businesses affected by the riots which have taken place this week all over the UK have been reassured by The Association of British Insurers that their claims for compensation will be paid and that the Home Secretary has agreed to extend the claim period to 42 days. The police compensation scheme is designed to cover homeowners and business owners for any damage which occurs during ...
The "threat" of potential compensation claims do not make UK services work safer: Five patients of an orthopaedic doctor Manjit Bharma have been awarded £750,000 compensation after they were left with permanent mobility problems following surgery. The doctor is still working within the NHS despite these claims. One patient was left with damage to a major nerve and pain which has prevented him from working. Another 23 year old required a hip replacement and was given the w...
It's been a down and dirty week in the compensation industry: Victims of the nuclear testing carried out by the government in the Pacific during the 1950's have come one step closer to receiving compensation this week. They have been given permission by the Supreme Court to argue for the right to compensation. The Court of Appeal had previously ruled that there was no right to claim damages, the Supreme Court has said that this decision can be fought. A furt...
UK Paying Compensation Around the World - (The Daily Mail must be drooling over such stories!): The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed this week that it has paid £100,000 in compensation to the family of a teenager in Iraq who died of drowning near Basra while in the custody of UK troops. It was found that the boy was forced into the water at gunpoint by British soldiers. The MoD have said that the decision to pay compensation was based on whether they had a legal liability to do ...
Claims Company Apps on the Rise & Insurers Next PPI Claim Target: A new app for the iPhone has been released which includes an unfair dismissal compensation calculator. The app is aimed at employers who want to find out how much they will have to pay. The app was designed by law firm MacRoberts and also contains links to Acas and the Equal Opportunities Commission as well as giving general legal information and advice. Graham Mitchell from the law firm has comme...
Fell into a vat of Curry? Fired for having a stroke? Far-fetched concepts now an almost common reality: It has emerged this week that council bosses in Brighton and Hove have paid £7,000 to a boy in compensation after he fell into a disused air raid shelter. The boy had climbed over the school fence to retrieve his ball and had been standing on the roof of the shelter when it collapsed. A similar incident occurred after a child fell down a manhole in a playing field. This resulted in a payment...
Claims for Financial Failures such Keydata & Equitable Life Swift - Unlike MOD Compensation: The families of three soldiers who were killed in Iraq have failed to win compensation from the government after they claimed that the MoD should have provided armoured vehicles to protect their family members. Despite not being allowed to sue for compensation they have been given the right to claim for negligence. Despite this the lawyers acting for the families say they will appeal. The original...
Criminals have claimed over £10million whilst in prison: It has been found that claims for compensation made by prisoners in the UK over the last five years have amounted that more than £10 million. The figures were obtained by the Press Association and showed two payments made last year were for more than £100,000. The highest payment was £2.8 million. A spokesperson from the ministry of Justice has claimed that most compensation clai...
Prisoners get compensation, airline passengers don't, compensation payouts to avoid jail terms ... what's going on?: A new website is about to be launched to help airline passengers claim compensation which has been unclaimed. The website is called EUclaim and has been launched partially in response to the Ryanair announcement that it will only deal with passenger claims directly. The websites allows passengers to fill in template forms to help them make claims they are entitled to. It is estimated that 1,000 pa...
Compensation payout figures and claims now seem to have the words "million" and "billion" in them a lot more: Barclays Bank has agreed to pay compensation to any customer who made a Payment Protection Insurance miss-selling claim prior to April 20. The payments will be made regardless of the circumstances of the claim and its validity. It is thought that the bank has taken this approach to clear the huge backlog of complaints which it is required to deal with. The claimants involved will get their premium...
As Deliberations Begin over Capping Discrimination Payouts, Cheryl Cole's Expectations from the US Can Be Higher: A group of chief executives and other top management executives from a number of companies have approached ministers to suggest that the compensation awards for discrimination should be capped at £50,000. The men include the chairman of PriceWaterhouseCoopers and is led by Sir Michael Snyder the former City of London Corporation policy chief. The 25 strong group have been in discussions with...
For those of you who worried we'd end up like the US ... you were right: An Austrian aristocrat who spent six days in a UK prison has complained that he was not treated well and is now saying he will receive £372,000 in compensation. Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly was being held while he was questioned by the Serious Fraud Office on charges of bribery and corruption. He alleges that he was not given a comb or decent underwear during his stay. The compensation pay...
Compensation Likely to be Refused again for Airline Volcanic Ash Delays and the UK is the Whiplash Claim Capital: With a new volcanic eruption in Iceland, those who are booked to go on holiday in the next few days and weeks are questioning their right to compensation should their flights be cancelled or delayed. It is thought that the plume of ash from the Grimsvotn volcano will reach Scotland by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week and will reach England by the end of the week. The Civil Aviation Authority has ...
Legal Fees More Than 3 Times the Actual Compensation in Some Council Cases: Statistics provided by councils on Merseyside have indicated that compensation payments to school pupils amounted to £50,000 between 2008 and 2010. One claim for £750 resulted from custard being spilt on the arm of a child, while one pupil claimed £350 for falling over an unmarked ramp. Larger claims include £6,000 for a child who was hit in the eye and £4,500 for a p...
PPI Claims Go Ahead & MOD Compensation Increased: The banking industry has this week, confirmed they will be dropping their legal battle over the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). The British Bankers Association (BBA) have said they will not appeal against the recent case it lost which insisted that banks apply mis-selling rules retrospectively. This means that the banks involved have agreed to set aside billions to pay any futur...