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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.
High civil payouts
Faisal Luhar, 10, run over and left tetraplegic: £5.1m
Martijn Biesheuvel, 22, tetraplegic after car crash; £9.2m
Randy Ingram, 41, nervous breakdown from work-related stress; £203,000
RAF pilot Timothy Ellison, 38, left paraplegic in jump-jet explosion, £1.5m
Patricia McPherson, 48, repetitive strain injury leading to medical retirement;
£98,194
Claims can be made through either the civil courts or, in the case of
a criminal act, through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
Heads you win...
Personal injury claims in the civil courts are divided into two "heads" -
pecuniary losses, and non-pecuniary losses.
The former includes things like loss of potential earnings, and medical
expenses.
The latter covers things like distress or frustration caused by the injury,
and is described legally as "pain, suffering and loss of amenity" (PSLA).
How are they calculated?
The levels of compensation are decided by a judge, who also decides who is to
blame for the injury, and therefore who must pay.
Claims and coconuts
Jean Gratton had a Caribbean holiday ruined when she was hit on the chest by a
falling coconut. She claimed against travel firm Airtours, which in 1999 settled
out of court for £1,750.
Pecuniary losses are fairly easy for the judges to calculate. They are
uncapped, and always form the bulk of any multi-million pound payouts.
Nine-year-old Luke Warren, for example, was awarded almost £3m after
suffering severe brain damage at birth, only £135,000 of which was for PSLA (the
Court of Appeal has now raised the latter sum to £175,000).
Non-pecuniary losses are trickier to calculate, as judges must make a direct
correlation between suffering, and hard cash.
Civil PSLA payout guidelines
Minor injuries £100-£2,000
Injury eg whiplash £2,000-£3,500
Loss of sight in one eye £22,500-£25,000
Moderate brain damage £40,000-£65,000
Quadriplegia £120,000-£150,000
However, most judges make their decisions against guidelines drawn up
by the Judicial Studies Board, which are capped at a comparatively low level.
The lowest bracket, for example, is up to £2,000 for minor injuries. The
upper bracket is £120,000 to £150,000 for the most serious injuries such as
quadriplegia (paralysis of all four limbs).
The amount of damages which can be claimed through bereavement - if a parent
loses a child, for example - has been set at £7,500 since 1991.
Who pays?
The defendant - that is the individual or organisation which takes the blame
during the court case - pays the damages awarded.
Kerb falling
Vincent Kemp was seriously injured when, having been drinking, he tripped over a
kerb into a passing van. He successfully sued the Scottish Secretary,
responsible for maintaining the roads, for £500,000.
In the UK, that broadly means either the insurance industry or the
NHS.
For example, a claim against a company over asbestos poisoning would be paid
by that company's insurance firm, under employers' liability insurance.
The NHS pays for all medical negligence cases except those in the private
sector, which would be paid for by insurers.
How much does it cost the country?
A recent study by the right-wing think tank the Centre for Policy Studies
(CPS) said compensation claims cost Britain £6.8bn a year in pay-outs and legal
fees.
Actual figures are hard to come by, as the majority of payouts are settled
before they go to court - up to 98%, according to the CPS.
NHS negligence payouts
1996/97 £11m
1997/98 £66m
1999/2000 £278m (est)
The NHS currently has 15,000 outstanding claims, which a recent
Committee of Public Accounts inquiry said could cost £2.8 billion.
In the last year the number of claims against the NHS has risen sharply.
This follows a landmark ruling over the Kent and Canterbury Hospital smear
test scandal, which changed the benchmark against which negligence is tested
from "reasonable care" to "best practice".
What if they're not insured?
There would be no point in pursuing a claim against an individual or
organisation who could not pay.
Pets win prizes
Any pet owner could face personal injury payouts if their dog attacks a victim.
A recent case netted £200,000.
But a recent Court of Appeal said insurance is "almost universal" when
it comes to personal injury claims.
Many individuals, for example, have public liability cover in their basic
household content policies.
It's criminal
Until 1996, payouts for injuries resulting from criminal behaviour were
linked to similar cases in the civil courts - the major difference being they
were paid for by public money.
£7,000 earwig
Klara de la Prida, 56, drank an earwig in a Marks and Spencer's coffee liqueur.
She developed an insect phobia and was paid £ 7,000 out of court.
But the system was slow, and a huge backlog had built up, so the then
Home Secretary Michael Howard brought in a strict system of tariffs.
Compensation for pecuniary losses - that is loss of earnings and medical
expenses - are now capped at £250,000.
The payouts for pain and suffering are measured on a scale of about 180
different injuries, also capped at £250,000.
CICB payout guidelines
Chipped tooth £1,000
Fractured wrist £4,000
Total deafness £40,000
Loss of both legs £100,000
Quadriplegia £250,000
They range from £1,000 for a chipped tooth, to £250,000 for the most
severe physical and psychological damage.
The CICB pays out about £200m a year. It is frequently accused of making
"derisory" payouts.
Cherie Booth QC recently offered free legal help to seven-year-old machete
attack victim Francesca Quintyne, who suffered severe facial injuries but was
offered only £8,100.
Lawyers said that if she had suffered similar injuries in a road accident,
she could expect £100,000 from a civil action.
And the system leads to other anomalies. Fourteen South Yorkshire policemen
were awarded £1.2m in the civil courts against their employer, for psychiatric
damage suffered in the Hillsborough disaster. Yet some of the bereaved were
refused compensation by the CICB.
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