Accident Claims & Personal Injury Lawyers Scotland Blog

InjuriesBoard.ie has published its review of 2011, which shows that compensation totalling €210 million was awarded in 2011 in respect of 9,833 personal injury claims. The average award in the period was €21,339. During the year the Board made an award of €829,444, its highest to date.

Award values via the Injuries Board remained consistent with awards through the Courts. The average award in 2011 was €21,339, down 3.8% on 2010. This reduction is largely due to a reduction in the proportion of work related claims – typically of higher value – and reduced loss of earnings, given lower salaries across the economy.

The total value of awards in the period increased by 23% but this was largely driven by an increase in the number of awards assessed in the period. Underlying claims volumes remained stable, increasing by 3% in the period and suggesting that the often mooted increase in claims during recessionary times has not occurred.

Over three quarters of awards (76.5%) were for injuries from road traffic accidents, while the remainder were split between workplace (8.4%) and public place (15.1%) accidents.

A young girl who suffered severe injuries after she was involved in a car crash has been awarded a compensation payment worth millions of pounds, reports the Daily Mail.

Cerys Edwards, who is now six-years-old, was only a baby when her family's car was hit head-on by a car being driven on the wrong side of the road at 70mph in a 30mph zone. The accident caused major injuries to Cerys's brain and spine. She is now paralysed, unable to talk, reliant on a ventilator and requires 24-hour care.

According to the Daily Mail, the judge, in what he described as the “saddest' case he had ever come across, awarded Cerys a lump sum of just under £5 million, plus annual payments of £450,000 for the rest of her life.

The High Court has awarded a former miner around £70,000 in compensation after he developed mesotheliomia caused by exposure to asbestos at work, reports the BBC.

The 92-year-old had worked as a miner in Nottinghamshire for over 20 years, and the Department of Energy and Climate Change has admitted that he was exposed to asbestos during his time there.

As a result of his illness, Dennis Ball had to move out of his home last year, and now lives in a nursing home.

According to the BBC, Mr Ball's lawyer said that the court decision "paves the way for further elderly sufferers to receive settlements which reflect the pain and distress the disease causes, regardless of their age."

The Government has announced an overhaul of victims’ services that will see up to £50 million generated from offenders to help create a speedier, more supportive system for victims of serious crime.

Under the new proposals set out by the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, criminals will be forced to fund victims' support services and those with unspent convictions could be banned from claiming compensation.

The proposals have now been put out to public consultation, which will run until 22nd April 2012. The proposed reforms include:

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Scottish Parliament acted within the scope of its powers when it passed the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009.

A construction worker from Edinburgh has been awarded compensation worth several million pounds after he was injured on a hospital building site in Newcastle in 2006, reports the Scotsman.

Recent figures released by the Ministry of Justice have revealed that injury compensation worth over £10 million has been paid to prison inmates over the past five years, reports the Independent.

The families of children injured when a large tree branch fell on them during a school trip are suing the National Trust for damages, reports the Telegraph.

A customer who slipped on a grape while shopping in an Asda store in Peterborough has been awarded £10,500 in damages, reports the Telegraph. Asda was also ordered by the court to pay £18,000 in legal costs.

A six-year-old Norfolk boy has won £4.6 million in compensation after incurring serious brain damage during his birth in 2004, reports the BBC.