Work Injury Compensation

The family of a man, who died from asbestos exposure after working in his home city´s shipyards, has been awarded a mesothelioma injury compensation settlement of 9.18 million dollars by a jury in Virginia after a three week trial.

John Bristow from Newport News in Virginia died in 2011 from mesothelioma cancer after working in the city´s shipyards for 37 years. Although retiring as a design engineer, doctors who attended him before his death suggested that the exposure to asbestos which was responsible for his condition had occurred in the 1960s and 1970s.

During that period, John had worked for five different companies; however the claim for work related illness brought by John´s widow, Anne, and her two sons was made against John Crane Inc. of Morton Grove, Illinois, who manufactured gaskets and sheet packing which contained asbestos for the shipbuilding industry.

Anne´s legal representatives argued that John Crane Inc. had been one of the main users of asbestos in the Newport News shipyards, and should have been aware of the dangers of working with asbestos but failed to warn their employees. It was claimed that John would have been breathing in countless millions of asbestos fibres over the years without even knowing it.

After two days of deliberations, the jury agreed with Anne´s legal representatives and awarded John´s family a total of 9.18 million dollars to account for John´s pain and suffering while he was ill, Anne´s psychological suffering while she watched her husband die from this incurable illness, and the loss of a father to John´s two sons.

A nurse, who sustained permanent spine injuries after lifting a patient while working alone on a night shift at a nursing home, has been awarded AU 500,000 dollars by the Victoria Supreme Court in Melbourne.  

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.

A ferry worker, who contracted mesothelioma cancer as a result of being exposed to asbestos, has been awarded 1.45 million dollars in occupational illness compensation by a jury in Seattle.

Roger Hammett (84) of Maury Island, Washington, was diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer in August 2010 after working all his life on naval vessels, commercial ships and ferries through the Puget Sound. Prior to his diagnosis he was a fit active man but has now been given less than a year to live by doctors.

Although many of the vessels on which he worked may have contributed to his condition, a compensation for mesothelioma claim was made against Sea-Land Service Inc. – a ferry company for whom Roger worked during the sixties aboard the SS Seattle travelling between Seattle and Kodiak Island in Alaska.

It was alleged in the action for occupational illness compensation that Roger´s exposure to asbestos was most intense aboard the SS Seattle due to the company being in violation of government health regulations regarding the material. It was argued in court that even if Sea-Land Service Inc. were unaware of the government regulations at the time, they should have been due to the volume of information available.

The jury at Kings County District Court decided that because of Roger´s many different employments during a 60 year career at sea, Sea-Land Service Inc. were only to be held 70 per cent liable for his condition and awarded him 1.45 million dollars.

The family of a man, who was tragically crushed to death between two diggers in a workplace accident, is to receive £454,000 compensation from the man´s former employers following a work death claim.

Ronan Conway (27) died after getting out of the cab of his vehicle to look at something in the ground in front of where he was working. Sadly he had failed to put in place the safety lever on the digger before leaving the vehicle and was crushed between his digger and another working on the site.

Once an investigation of the fatal accident of November 2008 took place, Ronan’s fiancée of eight years Anne Marie Morgan (30), claimed wrongful death at work compensation from Ronan’s former employers – OB Hire and Sales Limited – alleging that they were responsible for Ronan’s fatal accident due to permitting him to work in a yard which had “little or no lighting”.

OB Hire and Sales Limited denied the allegations and claimed that Ronan had not followed the training he had been given in the operation of the digger and that it was his own negligence which led to his fatal accident.

However, at High Court, Mr Justice John Quirke was advised that the company had made an offer to settle the work death claim which the family were willing to accept. The final amount of compensation had been decreased to account for Ronan’s contributory negligence and was to be divided between the claimant, Ronan’s parents and siblings, and the children both Ronan and Ms Morgan had from their previous relationships.

The biggest settlement ever recorded for a US coal mining injury compensation case has just been announced, with the owners of the Upper Big Branch pit in West Virginia ordered to pay 210 million dollars in damages.

The Upper Big Branch coal mine was the site of a massive explosion in April 2010 which resulted in the death of 29 miners and, after a federal investigation, it was discovered that the mine´s owner – Massey Energy – was in breach of 369 workplace safety regulations – 12 of which directly contributed to the explosion.

The new owners of the mine – Alpha Natural Resources – will be responsible for the payment of the damages which comprises of 128 million dollars for safety upgrades, training and research, 35 million dollars in fines for safety violations and 47 million dollars for relatives of the victims.

Eighteen of the families of miners who were killed in the explosion have already settled their injury compensation cases for wrongful death, but many more remain outstanding – including nine claims for emotional distress made by mine employees who survived the explosion.

A former Ryanair baggage handler has been awarded £37,000 compensation for a back injury at work.  Damian Warcaba was injured in an incident at on July 17th, 2007, while moving aircraft stairs unassisted.  Mr Warcaba was brought to to hospital and was out of work for two months.

The normal operating procedure requires two people to manoeuvre aircraft stairs manually for about three metres to rest against an aircraft. Ryanair contested the case, saying that it had given standard training to employees and regretted that the standard operating procedures where not adhered to in practice. Ryanair pointed out that Mr Warcarba had not adhered to the standard operating procedures and was therefore solely responsible for his work back injury.

Mr Justice Peter Charleton ruled that Ryanair did not provide adequate workers to ensure the correct operating procedures were followed.

A welder called Ignacio Llamas was recently awarded £5.3 million as compensation for a foot burn at work when he suffered severe burning when a molten piece of metal broke loose and slid down his foot.

A dock worker, who sustained a brain injury when hit by a defective mooring cable, has won his case for compensation for brain damage at work.

Cody Karl of League City, Texas, was employed at the Magellan Terminal located on the Houston Ship Channel when, on 1st June 2008, he formed part of a team tasked with docking a 600 foot tanker. Cody was on board a docking skiff when one of the cables used to moor the ship snapped and hit him on the head.

Despite wearing a hard hat, Cody was diagnosed with brain injuries which lead to cognitive dysfunction and a loss of physical strength along the left side of his body. After seeking legal representation, Cody made an injuries at work claim against the Magellan Terminal, claiming that the mooring cable was in an unsafe condition for the tension it had to withstand.

Cody’s employers refuted the claim, stating that Cody himself should have seen that the cable had deteriorated and was not safe to use, but at the 125th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, Judge Christine Butts found in favour of the claimant and awarded him £9.6m.

A postal worker, who picked up a toe injury at work has won his compensation claim at court. He damaged the big toe on his right foot when a package of floorboards fell onto it.

Edward Pyne (61) brought his claim against the postal service after the accident in November 2006 left him needing several operations for an ingrown toenail which had resulted from the injury. He also alleged that he had suffered from several infections which had developed in the injured toe.

The judge heard how the worker should have been supplied steel toe-capped boots as part of a postal worker’s uniform, but Edward had long worn out the pair that had been most recently given to him three years previously. Consequently the shoes he was wearing on the day of the accident offered insufficient protection against such an accident happening.

Liability was denied for Edward’s claim, but Mr Matthew Deery heard evidence that many of Edward’s colleagues also failed to wear the obligatory steel toe-capped footwear, and had better staff supervision been provided, the accident could have been avoided.

Upholding Edward’s claim for injuries at work, the judge stated that he was satisfied that the postal service had failed to provide adequate protective footwear for their staff, and awarded Edward £19,300 in personal injury compensation.

A New York City sanitation engineer, who made a claim for compensation for an ankle injury at work when a colleague ran over his leg in a forklift truck, has accepted £3.3m in compensation in an out-of-court settlement.

Andrew Anderson (37) from New York City, was aiding a colleague install a snow plough to the forklift truck when the accident happened in early 2008. His co-worker accidently ran over his ankle, causing a severe ankle fracture which required two surgeries to correct.

Andrew also contracted reflex sympathetic dystrophy during post-operative complications and sustained foot drop – for which he now needs the use of a foot brace. Since the incident, Andrew has not been able to work and been forced to take early retirement from the City of New York.

After consulting his legal representatives, Andrew sued the City of New York for his injuries. Liability was undisputed and the case was heard in the New York Supreme Court for final assessment of damages. However, just before the jury were about to begin their deliberations, lawyers on the two sides reached an agreed settlement of £3.3m to compensate Andrew for personal injury, lost earnings and loss of consortium.