A driver in Toronto received $17 million in an accident claim after running through a red light.
Yet this is small potatoes compared to The case of professional dancer Kerstin Parkin which made recent news, after her lawyers made a successful compensation claim of £19 million against a Kent NHS trust. Kerstin was left brain damaged and paralysed for life after a series of blunders as she gave birth to her first child.
. In the UK, we have a somewhat fairer way of dealing with compensation claim cases – which is why a lot of no win no fee lawyers refuse to take on cases where the claimant is seen to be at fault.
Nonetheless, there have been some impressive sums awarded in the last 10 years. Like Kerstin, many of these were due to hospital blunders. Others include:
• The £1.25 million lump sum payout awarded to an elderly man who was knocked off his motor bike by an uninsured driver. Awarded on a no win no fee basis, the Motor Insurers Bureau accepted liability on behalf of the 21 year-old female driver.
• The £3 million awarded to a South London pedestrian who suffered spinal injuries after being knocked down while crossing the road.
• The 5,700 members of the trade union Unison who claimed £28 million for work-related accidents in 2008 alone.
No win no fee compensation claims are a fact of life today – it should be noted that, in the above cases, the victims deserved every penny of what they got.
