Tell you what, for a builder you’ve got a fairly impressive level of legal knowledge. I know times are hard in the construction industry, so if ever you’re struggling to find work I think you might be able to use that.

Yeah, it’s mainly because all these **** lawyers spend years trying to make things like the Olympics actually happen so people will stop moaning that the UK never does anything (and then whinge about pointless shit like the logo), and normally us builders are bored senseless sat about the site canteen reading Nuts magazine while we wait for them to finish their stupid negotiations and stuff…but not me, i sometimes go along to watch the meetings to kill time, so i’ve picked up a little bit of knowledge.

People launch civil claims for all sorts of reasons. Not every one is a blag. I remember a couple from fairly recently that I’ve defended. One was a lady who had allegedly hurt her back whilst moving her PC. Sounds like bollocks to begin with but a bit of digging reveals that she had inoperable cancer of the spine, had no money and little chance of recovery. Probably spurious but understandable. Another was a bloke who fell off a chair when it broke. Hardly injured him at all but he was majorly pissed off at a couple of estates staff who laughed at him when he reported it. Etc.

People launch civil claims for all sorts of reasons. Not every one is a blag.

Oh without a doubt. I worked in maritime sector for a bit as a trainee and some of the commercial shipping PI claims were brutal. Guys losing their arms and stuff. 😕

Absolutely, but for every genuine case there will be ‘hundreds’ that are trying it on.

Mother In Law, who is a Physio, with her own private practice is kept busy with a daily influx of them. No interest in getting better, but all in phenominal amounts of pain with “sprained ankles/whiplash”?!

They tend to have a commonality with benefit cheats; that is their propensity to commit fraud!

Getting a few quid for a broken ankle that was largely your own fault…
Having the whole of England know that you are cheap enough to sue someone for it… Priceless.

Still not fair to call the woman stupid without knowing the whole story.

Bouldering mats. Another case of risk compensation? Would she have climbed that high and risked falling like that on to a bare floor?

Absolutely, but for every genuine case there will be ‘hundreds’ that are trying it on.

LOL, keep reading the Sun.

LOL, keep reading the Sun.

Yup that is why I used the ” marks… to show that it was completely unsubstanciated… then followed up with anacdotal ‘evidence’ (notice those marks again)?

i reckon I’ve maybe been party to around 50 claims in my time. Of those fifty I can only recall 2 or 3 that were totally without foundation. In all of the others the claimant did actually suffer some form of injury and I would say that in perhaps two thirds of the claims I advised the employer that they were at least partially to blame.

Actually I also remember back in the early days talking to a solicitor about a particular case and calling the claimant a ‘f-cking parasite’. Unfortunately for me, the employee being discussed was standing about 3 feet away! 😀