Sawyer Rosenstein (18) of Woodland Park, New Jersey, was a student at the Eric Smith Middle School in Ramsay, New Jersey, and only twelve years of age in May 2006 when a fellow student – known to have a history of violent tendencies – punched him in the abdomen. The attack caused a blood clot to form which prevented blood from reaching Sawyer´s spine and permanently paralysed the young student from the waist down.

In the claim for school bullying injury brought by Sawyer´s parents, it was claimed that school officials were aware of the bully´s violent nature, yet had failed to record any of his misdemeanours or discipline the boy for any of his previous attacks. This failure in the school´s duty of care, they claimed, was in breach of New Jersey´s anti-bullying legislation which had been put in place to prevent this sort of incident occurring.

Sawyer´s parents supported their claim for school bullying injury by providing an email that Sawyer had written to his school guidance counsellor three months prior to the attack. In the email Sawyer had alerted his guidance counsellor to the fact that he was being bullied at school and asked for advice about how to cope with the attacks. He concluded the email “I would just like to put this on file so if something happens again, we can show that there was past bullying situations.”

After several months of negotiations, Ramsay School District agreed to a 4.2 million dollars settlement of Sawyer´s claim for school bullying injury without admission of liability. Sawyer is now a freshman at Syracuse University when he is majoring in communications.

Kathryn Strong, an amputee who relies heavily on the aid of her crutches to walk, was passing the food counter of the Woolworths store at the Centro Taree Shopping Centre in New South Wales in September 2004, when she slipped on a greasy chip that had been left on the floor and fell heavily – sustaining serious spinal injuries.

Kathryn sued Woolworths in the New South Wales District Court for slipped on spilt food in supermarket compensation, claiming that their lack of reasonable care and failing to provide a safe thoroughfare had directly led to her injuries.

Kathryn won her slipped on food on shop floor claim and was awarded AU 580,299 dollars. However, the case was overturned on appeal by Woolworths on the grounds that Kathryn had not proven a lack of reasonable care and she was forced to take her claim to the High Court.

At the High Court in Sydney, the court´s judges ruled that “reasonable care” required Woolworths to inspect and remove slipping hazards at 20 minute intervals and, as Woolworths could not demonstrate that such a cleaning schedule was in place, “on the balance of probabilities” the store was liable for Kathryn´s injuries.

Re-instating the decision made at the New South Wales District Court, Kathryn was awarded AU 580,299 dollars plus costs in respect of her slipped on food on shop floor claim.

Margaret Pozzobon (58) from Nanawading in Melbourne sustained her injuries in February 2006 when the Wantirna Aged Care Facility had left her working alone on a night shift in care of fifty residents. One of the residents was an elderly man with bipolar disorder who, on the night in question, persisted on stripping his bed and lying on the floor.

It was during the sixth time of lifting the man and putting him back to bed that Margaret sustained her injury. Diagnosed with severe cervical spine injuries, Margaret had to undergo surgery to fix the damage to her spine and still requires nerve blockers and spinal injections to enable her to move about normally and cope with the pain.

Being incapable to continue her duties in the Care Facility, and unable to find employment elsewhere because of her disability, Margaret made a claim for manual handling injury compensation against the Wantirna Aged Care Facility, alleging that they had been negligent in requiring her to work alone and with a resident who should have been cared for in a nursing home with a higher level of care.

The Care Facility contested the claim, but after an eight day civil trial at the Victoria Supreme Court in Melbourne, the jury found in Margaret´s favour – awarding her AU 500,000 dollars in compensation for nursing home negligence to account for the pain and suffering she had experienced due to the nursing home´s negligence, and to cover her lost income – both past and in the future.

William Geary (60) of Medford, Oregon, was waiting at a red light in his Chevrolet Silverado on December 23rd 2011 when the trailer of a truck driven by Philip McCullough broke free and slammed into William´s vehicle, flattening the car and trapping the victim inside for 90 minutes before rescuers were able to cut him free. William was taken to hospital suffering from a broken neck and spinal injuries.

Following an investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff´s Department, McCullough was charged with careless driving and making an improper turn, however on inspection of the truck it was discovered that the brakes on the rear trailer were misaligned and also that the brake slack adjusters on the truck were mismatched.

William launched a truck injury compensation claim against the owners of the truck – Express Transport Corp. – and shortly after the first anniversary of the tragic accident a negotiated settlement was agreed where William would receive 1.4 million dollars – 300,000 dollars for medical costs already incurred, 400,000 dollars for estimated future medical costs and 700,000 dollars in truck injury compensation for future loss of income and the deterioration in William´s quality of life.

The victim, who wished to remain anonymous, was visiting the Perkins Restaurant on Route 46 in Budd Lake, New Jersey, in January 2007, when he slipped on an untreated icy patch adjacent to a storm drain in the restaurant car park.

As a result of the fall, the victim sustained multiple shoulder and spine injuries – including disc herniations which required spinal fusion surgery and plates to be inserted to support his lower back. Despite treatment costing in excess of 250,000 dollars, the victim is still unable to walk any length of distance and perform routine daily activities.

After seeking legal advice, the single father of two children made a restaurant injury compensation claim against the owners of the restaurant – K Investments Limited L.P. – and, shortly before the case was scheduled to be heard in court, a settlement was negotiated between the man´s legal representatives and the restaurant´s public liability insurers.