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Equitas settles with Halliburton
Equitas and Halliburton Co have reached a comprehensive agreement to settle Halliburton's insurance claims against certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London, reinsured by Equitas, as a result of which Halliburton will be paid $575mn. The settlement..
Online Published Date:
01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Aon survey reveals severity of claims
The high trend of insurance rates experienced by hospital professionals and physicians over the past three years show no sign of slowing in 2004 as claims costs are increasing at a steady rate of 9.7% according to the US Hospital Professional..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Lloyd’s Names and right to a fair trial
The Court of Appeal ruled that Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights was not retrospective so as to allow Lloyd’s Names to amend their pleadings seeking damages from Lloyd’s in order to avoid the immunity from suit..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
High-heeled shoes liability averted
Manufacturers of high-heeled shoes will be breathing a sigh of relief following the publication of a report which reveals that there is no evidence to support the commonly-held view that wearing high-heeled shoes leads to knee arthritis.
Personal..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Mediation - the new blackmail?
By Jane Hughes, Kendall Freeman
A series of recent cases has suggested that mediation is becoming a necessary step in the litigation process. A refusal to mediate will result in the courts making adverse costs orders against the recalcitrant party,..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Email bulletin for subscribers
Evandale, publisher of Liability, Risk and Insurance and other newsletter titles, recently launched a monthly email digest of the latest developments in the world of international insurance and reinsurance. Did you receive it? If not, we probably..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
US court rejects forum shopping
America provides a favourable, low risk environment for claimants – high damages awards and no “loser pays” costs rule – not surprisingly, it attracts foreign litigants engaged in forum shopping. This is according to..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Third party recoveries urged for insurers
Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) has warned that insurers frequently miss out on reducing their claims bill by failing to make use of their right to recover costs from third parties
According to RPC, “Insurers take on any right that the..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
US actuaries under attack over reserves
The numerous reserve additions by US property/casualty insurers calls into question the credibility of insurance actuaries, according to a new report from Standard & Poor's Rating Services.
“Actuaries are signing off on reserves that turn..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
US study into auto injury claims
A new study by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) has found that reported losses in US auto injury claims are escalating in spite of the fact that the rate of serious auto injuries has decreased. The IRC study reveals that escalating medical costs..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
On-line D&O quoting system launched
Underwriting management company, Dual Corporate Risks, has launched a new Internet Quoting Engine - IQE 2.0 – providing competitive quotations for D&O liability insurance for small to medium size enterprises (SMEs).
IQE 2.0 is available..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Risk managers look to D&O alternatives
The rising cost of Directors’ and Officers’ Liability (D&O) insurance has prompted risk managers to investigate alternative forms of cover, according to AIRMIC, the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers.
That is the main..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Unprecedented court intervention by equality commissions
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and Disability Rights Commission (DRC) have all welcomed a Court of Appeal decision “that makes it clear that people who have been discriminated against can claim..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Clergy should have access to Employment Tribunals
A new report recommends that clergy without the freehold should be given access to Employment Tribunals to claim unfair dismissal.
A review chaired by Professor David McClean recommends retaining the office-holder status of clergy and conferring a..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
New limits for unfair dismissal and redundancy payments
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has announced new limits on awards for unfair dismissal and redundancy payments. Payments and awards made to workers in employment rights cases have risen in line with inflation.
The increased limits affect..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Liability for clearing snow
The government has said that householders could be liable for legal action if they clear snow from pavements outside their home if somebody slips on the ice. On the other hand, if they leave the snow, then the local council will be liable.
This..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Gender issues in health and safety
A report from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work entitled “Gender issues in safety and health - A review” examines gender differences in workplace injury and illness, gaps in knowledge and the implications for improving..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Avian flu threat
The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in several areas in Asia is a threat to human health and a disaster for agricultural production, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Exxon to pay $4.5bn for Valdez spill
Exxon Mobil has been ordered to pay $4.5bn in punitive damages and $2.25bn in interest in connection with the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill by an Alaskan court.
A jury had originally awarded $5bn in punitive damages in the case, but that figure was..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
FSA defends Scottish farmed salmon
Despite the recent reports in the media over Scottish salmon, and the publication of a US study warning against farmed salmon, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said that “the levels of dioxins and PCBs found in this study are in line with..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Confidential report on vaccines and Gulf War syndrome
The Times has reported that a confidential report by a senior army medical specialist “has provided the first official backing for claims that the cocktail of vaccines given to soldiers before the 1991 war with Iraq caused illnesses which..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Fraud damages in dramatic increase
A survey carried out by Bloomberg News of the 25 largest jury verdicts of 2003 has revealed that juries awarded damages of $13.8bn against companies that were sued for fraud. The corresponding figure for 2002 was just $1.46 billion. Nine of the top..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Lead paint and sidewalk liability in New York
Building owners in New York City will face additional financial and administrative burdens for years to come as a result of a lead paint bill currently being discussed by the City Council and the sidewalk liability legislation passed in September..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Asbestos claims to continue says industry
Asbestos claims will continue to plague the industry – this is the view of an overwhelming 92% of insurance executives surveyed at a recent US Property/Casualty Industry conference.
Workers' compensation claims are another major industry..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Radical surgery for mesothelioma epidemic
One in every hundred men born in the 1940s will die of die of malignant pleural mesothelioma, which is almost exclusively a consequence of exposure to asbestos, with a lag time that is rarely less than 25 years and often more than 50 years from..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Setback for US tobacco companies
US tobacco companies have suffered a setback in the lawsuit brought against them by the US government over claims of racketeering. The US government is claiming $289bn in damages, as well as stricter rules on marketing and advertising of tobacco..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Hospitality trade faces legal action threat
A new tie-up between health campaigning charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and the UK’s largest personal injury and trade union law firm Thompsons means that “the hospitality trade faces a rising threat of legal action from..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Mad cow website launched in US
The US based Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues has launched a new website to sort fact from fiction about Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The new site is called www.Mad-Cow-Facts.com, and offers “credible,..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Farms top products liability compensation list
Plaintiffs injured by tractors, backhoes and other farm equipment won more money in products liability cases than those harmed by transport (cars and trucks), medical products, construction products or consumer products such as household appliances,..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Lymphatic cancer risk from hair dye
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that lifetime users of hair colouring products have an increased risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), a cancer that attacks the lymphatic system, part of the body’s immune..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
No mobile phone risks in short term
A major study into mobile phone risks has issued its first report which suggests that the use of mobile phones poses no increased risk of brain cancer in the short term.
The report is the first from the Interphone study, organised by the..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Warning on revised EU Product Safety Directive
Manufacturers need to gear up for changes in the revised EU Product Safety Directive or face potential product recall costs and compensation claims for consumers, according to Davies Arnold Cooper (DAC).
The law firm explains that European law..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Bush talks up medical liability reform
President George W Bush recently discussed his campaign to for medical liability reform, and in particular the need for a cap on non-economic damages, and made it clear he was determined to get his way.
He told an audience in Arkansas:..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
HRT in new cancer risk study
A Swedish study of breast cancer survivors was halted early after the researchers found that there was evidence that cancer came back more often in those using HRT.
The study looked at the effects of hormone replacement in female breast cancer..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Cancer risk from medical x-rays
The use of medical x-rays causes hundreds of extra cancers each year in the UK, according to researchers from Oxford University and Cancer Research UK, in a report in the Lancet. The researchers say that around 0.6% of total cancer risk may be the..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
NHS guidelines on medication safety
New guidelines are being brought in by the NHS to lower the risk of patients coming to harm from medication errors. “Building a safer NHS for patients: improving medication safety” sets out ways of avoiding errors in prescribing,..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Leading supermarkets and ‘trans fats’
Despite strong evidence from many experts that hydrogenated fats are potentially harmful and moves by a few manufacturers of well-known brands to reduce the levels in their products, key supermarket retailers are failing to take the problem..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Individual claims and group actions
In a case where a claimant had been refused permission to join a group action out of time, it was not an abuse of the process of the court for the claimant to proceed with an individual claim which raised the same issues as the group action.
But the..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Council employees protected by TUPE
The case involved the transfer of a council’s refuse collection service to a private company which intended to operate the service for profit. The claimant was employed by the council, and was then employed by the company on less favourable..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Entitlement to scheme indemnity
An insured company, in relation to a claim brought against it, had an entitlement to defence litigation costs by way of an indemnity from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme where it relied on a policy with an insolvent insurer.
The case..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
No duty of care owed by adoption agency
The Court of Appeal held that there was in general no duty of care owed by an adoption agency or the staff whom it employed in relation to deciding what information was to be conveyed to prospective adopters.
The original court found that the..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Conflicting views of expert witnesses
The Court of Appeal ruled that a judge hearing a medical negligence claim should not accede to a submission of no case to answer where the expert witnesses expressed conflicting views in their written statements. The case involved a man who..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Enforcement of costs orders
The court upheld an appeal, ruling that the restrictions placed on the enforcement of costs orders against legally aided parties under section 11 of the 1999 Act did not apply so as to prevent the other party setting off the costs awarded to him..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Damages for distressed mother
The case involved a mother who successfully brought a claim in contract and tort against her former solicitors alleging that their negligence resulted in her losing custody of her children. The court ruled that she was entitled, under the contract,..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Unique employee and retirement age
In this appeal from a decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal relating to unfair dismissal, the court ruled that an employee who held a unique position in an undertaking could have a normal retiring age within the Employment Rights Act 1996.
The..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Privatisation of access to justice
The Commercial Court declined to award costs against the commercial third-party funder of the experts of an unsuccessful claimant. This was despite the fact that if the claimant, who was represented on a conditional fee agreement, had been..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Summary assessment of costs
To challenge a summary assessment of costs, permission to appeal was required. This was so even where the assessment had been made in the course of insolvency proceedings. The court ruled that in this case, even though the registrar had not followed..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Minimum content of job not condition
The court held that the requirement for a road sweeper to be able to walk was part of the irreducible minimum content of the job and not a term, condition or arrangement on which employment was offered.
As a result, there was no duty on the employer..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Contributory negligence for fire starter
Consideration must be given to the provisions of section 1 of the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 in a case involving issues of liability for damage to a factory inadequately designed by the architects from the spread of a fire caused..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Inappropriate behaviour by tribunal member
An employment tribunal hearing could be unfair on the grounds that one of the tribunal members had given the appearance of falling asleep and not fully concentrating on the case.
The case involved a claim for unfair dismissal. The claimant had..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Structured settlement rejected
A girl who was involved in a head-on car crash has been awarded £5.1mn compensation against the nanny who was driving the car. The settlement had been approved in June 2003, but the case was adjourned to consider creating a structured..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
£3.4m for inexcusable delays
A boy with cerebral palsy caused during birth has been awarded £3.4mn in damages. He was born after his twin brother, but because of delays, he suffered cerebral palsy just before delivery by emergency Caesarean. The delays were described in..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Company ignored terrorist threat
The families of six employees killed in a bomb attack in Pakistan in 2002 are to receive nearly $900,000 in damages from a French shipbuilder. According to a hearing, the company committed an inexcusable fault by underestimating security risks.
The..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Anti-monarchy group win damages
A group of people from the Movement Against Monarchy, an anti-monarchy protest group, have won £80,000 in damages after they were unlawfully arrested and falsely imprisoned during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002. Each of..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Police pay damages
A man who was repeatedly stabbed by a mentally ill man has received £81,000 in damages, plus costs. The man sued police after he went onto a roof to talk down the mentally ill man, a friend. The man sued the police for negligence because they..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Abused altar boy gets settlement
A former altar boy is to receive more than £300,000 in compensation from the Roman Catholic Church after he was sexually abused by a priest.
The man, now 38, had been seeking £1mn. The out-of-court settlement was made after the Birmingham..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Road accident settlement
A man has been awarded £2.85mn in compensation after being severely brain-damaged in a road accident. He and a friend were hit by a passing car, and the friend was killed. The man requires 24 hour a day care.
The driver’s insurers agreed..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
And another cerebral palsy settlement
..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
£3.5m cerebral palsy settlement
..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Settlement reflected litigation risk
A man who suffered acute brain damage at birth has received £875,000 in damages. The man, now 23, was a twin, and suffered brain damage when he was starved of oxygen during birth.
The man has been left with severe learning difficulties and..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Prison assault settlement
A group of young offenders have received £120,000 in an out-of-court settlement with the Prison Service after they were assaulted by prison officers.
The seven men, aged between 16 and 21, claimed they had been punched, slapped and kicked. They..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Sexist treatment of RAF pilot
A female RAF pilot has won “substantial damages” at an employment tribunal over sexual harassment. The actions of the RAF were described by the tribunal as “sexist, arrogant and frankly illegal.” Amongst the sexist treatment..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Teenage sexual harassment suits settled
Two employment discrimination lawsuits brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been settled for a total of $525,000. The lawsuits related to restaurants and the sexual harassment of teenaged former employees.
The first suit,..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Justin Timberlake pulls Janet Jackson
A claim looks to be in the offing following the unfortunate exposure of Janet Jackson on US television. In the half time interval of this year’s Super Bowl, Janet Jackson performed a duet with Justin Timberlake, in a show produced by MTV and..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Waiter, there’s a condom in my soup
A California woman has settled with a restaurant for an undisclosed amount after she sued for allegedly finding a condom in her chowder. The woman is most unlucky when it comes to restaurants, as she apparently sued another restaurant a few years..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Junk mail dog injury claim fails
A couple who claimed that their dog was injured after jumping to the letterbox to try and get leaflets from Safeway supermarkets, have lost their case.
The dog was partially paralysed and the couple claimed £2,826 because of the junk mail..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Chef sues over avocado injury
A chef who cut his finger while slicing an unripened avocado is suing the hotel where he worked for £25,000 compensation. He claims that the injury happened because he had not been warned of the danger of slicing an unripe avocado.
As a result..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Wedding ring finger injury
A lorry driver who is unable to wear his wedding ring is to sue the local council for £10,000. He damaged his left ring finger when a heavy steel door crushed his hand. He also has difficulty washing and suffers from poor grip in the hand.
The..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
HIV infection claim dismissed
A claim involving HIV contracted by injection has been rejected. A man sued his employers after he allegedly contracted HIV from an injection he received while working abroad. But the claim was dismissed because the judge said the true cause of the..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Men sue over destroyed sperm
A group of men whose sperm was accidentally destroyed by a hospital are to seek compensation. The 28 men were being treated for cancer which could leave them infertile. The hospital has admitted liability. The freezer which contained the sperm..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Police sued in cell death
Police are to be sued by the partner of a man who died after being held in a police cell. The man was found drunk in the street and put in a police cell. A fatal accident inquiry found that police had broken their own guidelines. The partner’s..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Chief constable sued by PC’s widow
A chief constable is being sued by the widow of a police officer who died after he was struck by a car as he was helping with a breakdown on a main road. She is seeking £446,000 in damages and is also suing the driver of the car which killed..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Organ removal case in Scotland
A mother whose baby's brain was removed without her knowledge during a post-mortem is suing the hospital for £100,000. The case is said to be the first of its kind to reach court in Scotland. The baby died in 1995 after being born with a..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
…and easyJet to be sued by deaf group
A group of deaf people are to sue the airline easyJet following an incident in which a pilot refused to fly on safety grounds. The group were asked to leave the plane just before take-off because the pilot believed they were special needs passengers..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Ryanair lose disabled wheelchair case…
A man who was charged to use a wheelchair in order to get to the check-in desk has won a legal case against Ryanair. The man suffers from cerebral palsy and normally used crutches, but he was unable to walk through Stansted airport to the desk, and..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Osama joke not grounds for dismissal
A prison officer has won a claim for unfair dismissal after he lost his job for making a joke about Osama bin Laden. The officer was passing some keys through an opening in the prison gatehouse. He flicked the keys which made a sound against the..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
White officers faced discrimination
A tribunal has found that two white police officers were unfairly dismissed and racially discriminated against by their superiors. They were dismissed for allegedly fiddling expenses. But the tribunal found that an Asian officer in their team was..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
Body parts lawsuit against NHS
The NHS is being sued by around 2150 families over the removal of body parts from dead patients without consent. The scandal came to light after an audit across the health service which was prompted by the Alder Hey case.
The claim reportedly..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004
D&O – Lessons from the US
So what is happening in the Directors’ and Officers’ (D&O) liability insurance market? The general view is that premiums have increased considerably, but so have claims. The hard market seems to be continuing for the time being, but..
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01 February 2004
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162 - 01 February 2004