Injury Compensation News

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) of Ireland has published a new guide, Stop Slips and Trips – Get a Grip, for employers and employees to help reduce workplace injuries caused by simple slips, trips, and falls. Although this type of injury might initially seem very minor compared with industrial accidents involving heavy machinery, about one fifth of the workers injured from falls stay absent from work for over one month.
Injuries at work due to falls account for about half of all claims for injuries at work that are made by the Injuries Board Ireland.
As with all types of workplace injury prevention programs, the HSA recommends that employers should track all incidents, assess the risks, and concentrate on prevention.  The preventative measure for slips or trips are fairly obvious: placing safety signs in places where trips might occur like unexpected steps, providing protective equipment and appropriate shoes to staff that might regularly be exposed to the risky areas like loading bays, ensuring that there is sufficient lighting so hazards are visible, ensure workers can dry any wet shoes, deal with liquid spills immediately, and most obviously, ensuring there are no bumps and holes on the floor.

The HSA always highlights that workplace safety is a joint responsibility between workers and employers, with both groups responsible for ensuring that there are as few accidents as possible.  However, employers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their workers.  Not just to prevent injury claims and because it’s a legal requirement, but because employers have a duty of care for their employees.

Question: What sort of person tries to mislead a judge in court?

Answer: The type of person that is stupid enough to update a social networking site with evidence that contradicts their testimony.

Eric Sedie of Corte Madera, California, had his $2.5m personal injury lawsuit to dramatically reduced to $297,624.66 by US Magistrate Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte due “inconsistencies.” There was no doubt that Eric Sedie had indeed sustained real injuries in 2006 during a collision with a United States Postal Service truck. What was disputed was the impact of the injuries, which Sedie claimed made his life “hell on earth.”
Judge Laporte found that “testimony revealed a pattern of exaggerations and inconsistencies” and in particular identified a MySpace entry “in which he described painting as a frustrating activity when his arm hairs would get caught in paint” – despite claiming he was unable to paint. Sedie was in fact lucky that Judge Laporte did not throw out the entire case.

The wrong lesson to take from this is that you need to avoid activities that will leave photographic or other evidence that you are lying in court, such as updating your MySpace or Facebook account. A cynical person who is just interested in gaining the maximum compensation might simply abstain from various activities until the claim has been settled (which can be fairly fast now, due to the benefits of the Injuries Board Ireland). No activity means no evidence of activity. This is particularly true in whiplash injury claims, where whiplash symptoms are often difficult to prove so the case often depends on evidence about restricted work and social activities.

The correct lesson is that honesty is best policy. Not because you might get caught and get no injury compensation. In the unlikely event that a personal injury claim actually goes to court, lies and inconsistencies will be probably spotted by the judge. The reason for honesty is that dishonesty is simply morally wrong.

MySpace and other social media sites such as Facebook will continue to be used by defence lawyers in personal injury claims.

The family of Miriam Jackson of Navan, County Meath, has received a €564,000 High Court settlement following her death in September 2004 in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, two weeks after being admitted with a small bowel obstruction. The case was taken by her husband, Derek Jackson, who also sued on behalf of his three children for damages for the loss of Mrs Jackson and the resulting mental distress. The lawsuit outlined over twenty claims of medical negligence and hospital negligence – mostly an unfortunate list of ignored symptoms. It was alleged that that urine analysis results were ignored – results that found an E coli infection and therefore septicemia was allowed develop and go untreated for a significant period of time. It was alleged that Mrs Jackson complained of abdominal pain and was feverish. It was claimed that her rising temperature was ignored by the surgical team. It was alleged that a medical consultation requested by the surgical registrar did not take place, despite multiple symptoms, including a temperature of 38.2 degrees, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and light-headednes.
The hospital admitted liability in the case, so the High Court case under Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill was only to determine the amount of compensation.

Twelve Irish organisations have signed  the European Road Safety Charter in Dublin today. The European Union statistics for 2008 show that there were 1.3 million road traffic accidents, 39,000 road deaths, and 1.6 million injuries. It is estimated that road traffic injuries cost about 2% of European GDP.
The charter focuses on reducing the number of road traffic accidents in Europe with measures that improve vehicle safety, road infrastructure safety, and driver behaviour.
The twelve new Irish signatories of the European Road Safety Charter are Cavan Area Rural Transport, Community Transport Association of Ireland, Dún Laoghaire – Rathdown County Council, ECO Unesco, Headway Ireland, Irish Medical Organisation, Irish Road Haulage Association, Metroplex Ireland, Shell, The Irish Insurance Federation, Vantastic, and World Rally Team Ireland.

Vincent McGuinness, a fireman from Dundalk, County Louth, has settled a High Court compensation claim for a five-meter fall from a ladder while fighting a fire at a derelict house at Culhane Street, Dundalk, in February 2004.  Mr McGuinness took the action against his employer Dundalk Town Council and the owner of the building that caught fire.
The case against the building owner was on the basis that he failed to secure the premises adequately and failed to ensure that a fire would not occur there. 

Mr McGuinness was injured while following a direct orders to climb a ladder that was placed by a superior officer against iron guttering, which later collapsed and moved the ladder.  Mr McGuinness landed on his back while his breathing apparatus canister was still attached to his back, causing a vertebra injury. Mr McGuinness spent spent three days in hospital and wore a neck brace for three months.  Mr McGuinness was unable to work for five months.
It was claimed that a hydraulic ladder that was available on the fire truck at the incident should have been used. The council argued that it had taken all appropriate measures, there was contributory negligence, and that the fire was started by a third party and therefore the council had no liability in law.
The case was settled before the jury made an award, presumably because the defendants were afraid of what a jury would award to a fireman injured while bravely fighting a fire.

A report today for the Irish Patients Association by the State Claims Agency shows that there are an average of 15,000 slips, trips, and falls in Irish hospitals, using data from the past 6 years.  The State Claims Agency data reveals that about 40% of hospital incidents are falls.

About  300 patients fall in Irish hospital showers each year, some of whom suffer fractured bones, although only about 1 percent of  patients sustained multiple injuries. Approximately one-quarter of patients who fell in showers suffered either bruising, lacerations or fractures.

Most accidents occur when patients are not under supervision and in at least one Irish hospital poor drainage leaves the shower facilities permanently flooded and therefore slippery. This certainly exposes Irish hospitals to medical negligence claims.

Mr. Terry Casey of Barna, Galway, a marketing lecturer at the School of Business in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, has created a legal landmark in Ireland with the first ever civil libel case where the medium was email.

The libel case was taken over an email with attachments that we sent to  staff in January 2005 that was sent by Larry Elwood and then resent by Deirdre Lusby, both department heads in the college.

Mr. Casey claimed an assault on his “reputation, integrity and good name”.

The two lecturers apologised to Mr. Casey in a public letter read out in the High Court that “withdraw the imputations and unreservedly and publicly apologise” .  The settlement amount was not revealed in court but it is believed to be a six figure amount in addition to costs.

It is not known at this stage if GMIT will take disciplinary action against the two lecturers.  This would be normal procedure in the private sector but perhaps not in higher education.

The State Claims Agency (SCA) director Ciaran Breen has backed the group investigating the feasibility of new legislation to allow for annual payments to victims of catastrophic injuries to replace the current system of large lump sum payments.

Speaking in an interview with Michael Brennan of The Irish Independent, Breen stated “We here in the SCA have been advocating that compensation in catastrophic injury cases should be paid by periodic payment order rather than the traditional lump sum because we feel that the transfer of the investment and mortality risk to the State is the proper thing to do.”

A working group chaired by Mr Justice Quirke has been set up to examine of compensation payments for catastrophic injuries can or should be awarded by way of periodical payment orders. The  group includes High Court judges, solicitors, barristers, and representatives from various organizations such as the State Claims Agency, Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland, Department of Justice, Insurance Federation of Ireland, and the Courts Service.

The  family of the late Kay Cregan, a mother of two from County Limerick, has agreed to a legal settlement of $3.1m (€2.4m) following her death during cosmetic surgery.  The incident was particularly shocking because Mrs. Cregan had not informed her husband, Liam Cregan, that she was undergoing a facelift during her visit to New York in March 2005.

A jury found anaesthesiologist Dr. Madhavrao Subbarao and nurse Susan Alonzo Francisco guilty of not implementing best medical practice in her post-operative care.  However, the jury did not find that the anaesthesiologist and nurse were responsible for Mrs. Cregan’s death.

The plastic surgeon, Dr. Michael Evans Sachs, had been involved in 30 malpractice cases in 10 years prior to surrendering his licence to practice to the medical regulatory authorities in New York State.  The settlement consisted of a $2.1m (€1.6m) settlement with Dr. Sachs’s insurance company and $1m (€769,000) with lawyers representing nurse Susan Alonzo Francisco.

Mr Justice John Quirke of the High Court in Dublin has approved a settlement award of €1.28m to a County Waterford teenager TJ Kearns, who lost a leg in a farming accident. The farm accident occurred on April 20, 2001, when TJ Kearns’  leg got entangled in a power seed sowing machine while working on a farm when he was nine years of age. TJ Kearns was in a tractor with a power harrow attached that was driven by an adult.
The defendants in the case were John Joe Flynn, Eugene Flynn and Gerard Flynn of  Dunmore East, County Waterford.  As is common in most workplace injury claims, liability in the action had been admitted. As a minor, TJ Kearns of Viewmount, Waterford sued through his father Tom Kearns.  The settlement offer had to be approved in the High Court because TJ Kearns is a minor.
While approving the settlement, Mr Justice Quirke stated that  “no money could compensate TJ fully for what he had suffered” .  TJ Kearns received treatment National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghire and now uses an artificial leg.