How they pay

If you are injured by somebody else's negligence, when can you claim compensation? How much can you get? And why are civil settlements so much greater than criminal ones?

In the UK, financial compensation is offered to make up for damage suffered physically, as with a leg injury, or psychologically, as with stress and depression.

Claims can be made through either the civil courts or, in the case of a criminal act, through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Full Article.

£2.9m for brain damaged boy

An eight-year-old boy seriously brain damaged at birth has been awarded more than £2.9m damages by the High Court.

The court was told that medical staff failed to spot danger signs during the birth of Luke Warren at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital in 1991.

Full Article.

Stressed worker wins massive payout

A council warden at a gypsy site has been awarded £203,432 damages for prolonged stress caused by his work.

The out-of-court payment to Randy Ingram, 41, from Evesham, Worcs, is believed to be the highest ever made for personal injury caused by stress at work in the UK.

Mr Ingram worked for the now-disbanded Hereford and Worcester County Council, and claimed he did not receive the necessary support from his employers after being shot at and physically and verbally abused by gypsies on the sites where he worked.
Full Article.

Worker wins pay-out for leg injuries

A former health worker whose right leg was amputated below the knee after two accidents at a hospital has received £600,000 compensation.

The award comes at the end of a 13-year legal battle.

Alison Hockaday, from Durham, was an active sportswoman before the accidents, regularly swimming, jogging, playing badminton and representing her county at netball.

Now, at 34, she has to use a wheelchair and has an artificial limb fitted to her injured leg.
Full Article.