Oh No They Didn't! The Compensation Culture.

The court has not held that Jeanette Cenet (nee McGlennon), the Claimant in this personal injury case, or Mr Maguire, "the alleged eye witness", were complete scam artists as alleged by the defendant, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. I emphasise the word "not".

This was despite the judge stating:

"There was a history of involvement by the claimant and her witness in similar claims. Mr Maguire, the alleged eye witness who gave evidence on the claimant's behalf, had himself submitted claims in respect of three highway tripping accidents in 1998, 2001 and 2004. In addition, he claimed to have been an eye witness to a similar accident suffered by Mrs Barry, another resident of Chatham Road, on 12 August 2004. That accident was said to have taken place on Chatham Road within a few yards of where the claimant's accident occurred. Mrs Barry's claim had been due for trial at the same time as that of the claimant (at the direction of the Designated Civil Judge, having regard to the issue of credibility arising from Mr Maguire's involvement as a witness in both claims); however, she discontinued her action the day before trial."

Luckily, some may think, the judge was able to uphold the Council's appeal on a different ground - i.e. the area where this trip and slip occurred was not, in fact, dangerous.

Go to the title link if you think that there is no compensation culture in the UK.

QUIZ QUESTION:

Is there a compenation culture developing in the UK?

NB: I am a claimant lawyer in respect of personal injury work. There are just some cases I would not touch.