A man has been refused compensation after suffering terrible injuries on a night out.

Johnathan Harvey had allegedly drunk up to eight pints when the incident happened as a student in Plymouth during 2003. He tripped over a chain mail fence and toppled over a wall, falling some 6 metres in the process. He landed on a concrete supermarket car park, and had been running away from a taxi driver before he tripped.

He suffered devastating head injuries and brain damage in the accident which has left him with mobility and communication problems. He spent eight months in hospital recovering.

He sued Plymouth council for compensation, saying that they failed to maintain the fence properly. Last year, a High Court ruling decided that although Mr Harvey was clearly at least partly responsible for the incident, the council had a 25% legal liability.

The council appealed this decision, and the Court of Appeal has just ruled in their favour. The case rested on the fact that Mr Harvey could not be classed as a “visitor” as necessary in the 1957 Occupiers Liability Act.

Both the Judge who made the ruling and the council itself however expressed their sympathy for the accident and the life altering injuries it caused.

A retired electrician has won his industrial deafness claim and received compensation for his hearing loss.

Eric Knight worked for 50 years as an electrical installation worker, from the mid 1950s until his retirement in 2004. His work for Arthur Ford Limited consisted of installing electrical setups in various locations including schools and hospitals. Many times though these installations would take place in industrial locations such as factories and manufacturing works.

Working in these locations would involve being surrounded by extremely loud and noisy machinery all day long, and for numerous years Mr Knight was not provided with ear protection by his employer. His employer later provided ear protection to its workers, but for Eric the damage was already done.

This daily exposure to unacceptable levels of noise without protection has left Mr Knight with permanent hearing loss. He claimed compensation from his former employers, and in an out of court settlement he was awarded £3,500 in damages.

Two women have been found guilty of staging a car crash to falsely claim road traffic accident compensation.

Katie Ashcroft and Jodie Jackman arranged with an unknown man to crash their cars into each other so that they could make a fraudulent insurance claim. They both pleaded guilty to committing fraud at Manchester Magistrates Court recently. The Court heard how both women had fallen into debt and had dreamed up the idea to try and pay this off.

An unknown man organised the crash which resulted in both their cars being written off. Neither woman took part in the crash however. Afterwards both girls, and friends and family who wrongly declared they were passengers in the cars made personal injury claims to the relevant insurance company.

The scam was only uncovered when Ms Jackman was suspended from her job and an investigation into her emails occurred. They found incriminating messages describing the planning of the accident to Ms Ashcroft. By this time they had already received £6,620 and £4,200 respectively in insurance payouts.

They were both given 12 week prison sentences but these were suspended for a year. They were both electronically tagged and will have to pay the money back. The Judge is reported to have taken into account the women’s regret over the incident, their financial circumstances and the fact they were not ‘career criminals’.

A woman who was left with permanent injury after suffering from meningitis has failed in her attempt to claim medical negligence compensation for the delay in her diagnosis.

Rachel Knott contracted the serious illness back in 2000, and Dr Alan Leading was called to the house to examine her. Her legal case revolved around the accusation that Dr Leading failed to spot the clear signs of the illness during the examination.

Rachel was not referred to hospital until the following evening after seeing a different out of hours doctor. Despite the treatment in the hospital, Ms Knott has been left deaf in one ear. She claimed that had Dr Leading referred her to hospital earlier then her hearing could possibly have been saved. This she claimed would have happened if Dr Leading had realised the implications of three petechial spots she had, which is a clear symptom of meningitis.

The Judge in the case denied her claim for compensation, deciding that there was no negligence on the part of Dr Leading. He reported to the Court that Rachel seemed alert when he examined her, and that the claims of having three petechial spots did not match with reports of other medical staff.

A construction company from Basildon has been fined after failing to protect its workers from potential fall from height accidents.

Gee Construction Ltd has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive for failing to observe regulations. An inspector visited a site in Caerphilly in October 2009 where Gee Construction were the main contractors, and found numerous problems. These problems included unguarded lift shafts and poor edge protection in high places.

The company pleaded guilty to breaking Work at Height Regulations in May, and it was also revealed that they had received two notices for similar issues previously, in 2008 and 2009. They were fined £10,000 and also made to pay legal costs of just over £4,500.

A spokesperson for the executive declared that this case should be seen as a warning to companies who fail to protect their employees.

The Health and Safety Executive also revealed startling statistics about the risks of falls from height. The figures for 2008/2009 highlight that 21 construction workers tragically died as a result from a fall of greater than 2 metres at work.

A man who was made to walk through the streets with a sign round his neck after being caught stealing from his employer is making a compensation claim against his former boss.

Mark Gilbert was frogmarched to the police station with his hands secured behind his back by his then boss Simon Cremer. He was also made to wear a large cardboard sign around his neck with the words; “THIEF – I stole £845 am on my way to police station”, written on it.

Mr Cremer had found out that Mr Gilbert had just tried to forge a company cheque to himself to the value of £845. He admitted forging the cheque but claimed he was owed the money in wages and needed it urgently. He was given a caution by the police in 2008 after spending 4 hours in their custody.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Mr Gilbert is now making a compensation claim against his former boss for the psychological trauma he put him through. He claims that the stress and trauma has left him unable to work for two years and is claiming £90,000 in lost wages as damages. Although the company boss, Mr Cremer, has been cleared of doing anything wrong, he will be forced to fight this case against him or make a settlement out of court.

An American airline passenger has won a deafness claim after she claims to have lost her hearing due to a child screaming.

Jean Barnard had been battling for compensation in the US courts for over a year, but an agreement has finally been decided. She was flying with Qantas airlines in Australia during a dream holiday to the country and New Zealand. She alleged that a three year old boy that was sat across the aisle from her screamed at the top of his voice. Her ears started bleeding and she was in severe pain. She was let off the flight and taken to hospital in Alice Springs.

Jean Barnard now claims to be completely deaf because of the child screaming incident. She sued the airline claiming that staff had not done everything possible to protect her from injury. Qantas argued that she already had a hearing problem and wore hearing aids before the incident occurred. No one else was injured during the incident.

However, an agreement has now been reached, but the exact sum given in damages has not been released.

A group of 6 clubbers from the midlands have won a personal injury claim after they were injured on the dance floor.

The 6 claimants pursued claims against Wolverhampton City Council after they slipped at events held at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. They all alleged that they fell on the slippery dance floor that had had drinks spilled on to it at the “Cheeky Monkey” and “Blast Off” nightclub nights.

The legal case centred on the belief that the Council had failed to ensure their safety, by failing to keep the dance floor clean, principally by failing to stop people taking drinks on to it.

The Birmingham Post newspaper is reporting that the 6 have won compensation of £75,000 between them. Two of the cases were settled out of court, while the other 4 were ruled over at Walsall County Court. All the cases relate to incidences that happened between 2003 and 2006.

A 77 year old man has died from mesothelioma just weeks after he won his long battle to claim asbestos compensation.

John Manniex was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May 2009 and sadly passed away after a long battle with the incurable illness just recently. Mesothelioma is caused exclusively by the inhalation of asbestos fibres and takes years to develop.

The Manchester Evening News is reporting that Mr Manniex worked for Mee & Cocker Ltd during the 1960s. They worked flattening prefabricated houses, which often used asbestos as part of the building materials.

After a year long legal wrangle the company’s former insurers agreed to pay compensation to Mr Manniex. The company had originally denied that asbestos was present in the work that they carried out, but they were quickly forced to change this stance when evidence came to light. Although John got to see justice in his lifetime, he sadly passed away just weeks after the settlement in June.

A woman from Billingham is facing a large accident claim bill after her postman injured himself when he tripped on a paving stone on her property.

Postman Colin Hatch suffered his injury when he tripped on a cracked paving stone outside the house of Mrs Little. He claims he was spooked by the sound of Mrs Little’s dog growling and tripped when he fled. Allegedly his foot caught in the cracked paving and his knee continued on its forward movement. This tore the ligament in his knee and he had to undergo key-hole surgery to rectify this. He was forced to change his career from that of a postman due to the lasting effects of the injury.

Mrs Little on the other hand claims that she and her dog were not even in the house on the day of the accident.

Colin sued Mrs Little for damages, and a Judge has already ruled in favour of Mr Hatch in the compensation claim. Unfortunately Mrs Little did not have building insurance at the time, which includes cover for public liability incidents. She is therefore legally liable to pay the settlement herself. Mr Hatch is claiming for £34,000 as well as legal costs, but there is set to be a ruling next month to decide on the final settlement figures.