Case studies

Our client’s hand was caught in the rotary mechanism of a machine at his work, resulting in the loss of three fingers. Left with ongoing sensory loss, which has significantly restricted his day-to-day life, he also suffered a psychiatric injury. As he lives alone, he requires paid assistance for cleaning and various DIY tasks. He loved his job, and the accident has had a devastating effect on his life.

His employers’ insurers admitted liability, but failed to make settlement proposals. We promptly raised court proceedings once we had all the necessary expert medical reports.  As the action progressed, we also instructed reports to cost his care needs, employability prospects, prosthetic possibilities and pension loss. 

An offer of £400,000 was submitted and while well above our client’s expectations, it was rejected by him on our advice. We continued negotiations, and eventually the offer was increased to £650,000, which we were happy to recommend. 

He was totally bowled over by the result, which allowed him to move forward and improve his life in significant ways. 

Our client, a joiner who was employed by a housing association, suffered a serious hand injury at work when he was provided with an inadequately guarded cutting instrument. Although off work for some time, he was paid in full. He returned to less onerous duties but on the same rate of pay.

As his employer’s insurers failed to respond quickly enough to the claim, we raised a court action in the National Specialist Personal Injury Court. Liability was admitted, with an offer of £45,000 compensation. We advised our client to reject it because we were concerned that he should be appropriately compensated for the ongoing effect on his ability to carry out heavy manual work. We sought the advice of a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, which proved extremely useful as he explained to us more about the precise mechanism of the injury and the cause of any ongoing weakness. We felt we then had good ammunition to have a further round of negotiation with the client’s insurers. They made a slightly increased offer, which we again rejected. They then proposed settlement at £60,000, which we were very happy to recommend be accepted.

Our client was employed as an aircraft mechanic by an airline at a Scottish airport when diagnosed with occupational hearing loss and noise-induced tinnitus due to excessive exposure to noise during his employment.

He was exposed to aircraft engine noise as well as the noise of his own and his co-/workers’ tools, including rivet guns, hammers, drills, sanders and heavy impact guns. He was exposed to noise levels of up to 115 decibels for at least several hours a day, sufficient to damage his hearing.

As well as struggling to follow conversations, he developed severe tinnitus, which significantly disturbed his sleep and had an adverse effect on his quality of life. 

As the airline refused to settle the claim, we raised a court action. With liability and causation in dispute, we instructed a noise expert called an acoustician, who deemed the noise levels to be negligent, as well as a medical expert, who assessed that the noise exposure was responsible for the onset of tinnitus.

An initial offer of £8,000 was rejected, and we pressed on with proceedings. A second offer of £12,325 was advanced, which again we rejected. Following further negotiations, the case ultimately settled for £16,500, more than double the initial proposal.

Due to workplace bullying and intimidation, our client became ill and was absent from work twice for extended periods, before being redeployed. 

During a lengthy court process, we recovered significant documentation, obtained medical evidence, and interviewed witnesses.  A few weeks prior to the final hearing and at the pre-trial meeting, we declined an offer of £7,500. Further negotiation brought about an increase to £15,000 and then an ultimate settlement at £20,000.

As there has never been a successful court hearing in an occupational stress case, this was a great result for us. We have gone on to achieve a successful outcome for our client’s colleague who was similarly affected by the bullying and had their case on hold pending this test case.

Our nursing assistant client was assaulted by a patient. Personal alarms provided to staff were not working. While she suffered some physical injuries, the most serious injury was psychiatric.

While pursuing the case, we helped with efforts to assist our client’s recovery. This included sourcing therapists who could provide treatments recommended by a psychiatric expert and securing interim payments to help pay for them.

Despite earlier substantial offers, our client accepted our advice to press ahead with further negotiations. The full final value of the settlement was £133,000, and our client was over the moon with this result.

As a result of long-term exposure to fine metal dusts and cooling agent chemicals in his workplace, our client developed respiratory issues. An appointed medical expert said he was suffering from sarcoidosis, quite a rare respiratory condition. It can be difficult to prove a link between the condition and the person’s employment, and the employer’s appointed medical expert disagreed with the diagnosis. We obtained a court order to gain access to the premises with an expert in occupational chemical exposure. He produced a detailed opinion concluding there had been a breach of duty on the part of the employer.

After lengthy negotiations in what was a long, complex personal injury case, we secured a settlement of £25,000 for our client, who was extremely pleased.

As a result of being employed for several years using metal grinders, our client developed upper limb problems. We carefully built a personal injury compensation claim case based on the employer’s failure to assess risk and their breach of certain regulations. We also obtained expert engineering and medical opinions. After negotiations at pre-trial meeting, the case settled for £12,250. We have since been instructed by his colleague who has suffered similar symptoms.

The client commented: “Allan McDougall Solicitors were fantastic. I felt informed and supported at every step in the process. The information they shared felt easy to understand, and every interaction I had with them was friendly and professional. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. Thank you so much for everything.”

After delivering kegs into a pub cellar, our client closed the door, only to find the concrete around the door disintegrating. He was left supporting the full weight of the door to stop it falling into the cellar, and as a result he suffered a back injury. The pub company sought to evade liability as our client’s colleague did not recall the accident, and our client had not consulted his doctor at the time. 

As he appeared to us to be a very credible, straightforward individual, we pressed on with the case, raising proceedings on his behalf. An initial offer of £6,000 was made. Through our negotiation this was increased to £8,000, then £9,100. We lodged a formal proposal to settle for £10,000, which was successful.

While organising cattle into a pen, our client was kicked by an agitated cow. He sustained a serious triple ankle fracture and was rendered unfit for work for a time.

The employer’s insurers admitted liability for the accident. We obtained extensive expert evidence to prove our client’s losses, including reports from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, a vocational consultant and an actuary.  Negotiations commenced and an offer of £190,000 was made. Our client was pleased with that sum but was persuaded to allow further discussions to take place as we were optimistic that we could secure more.  We were delighted to achieve a final settlement of £225,000. 

Our client was employed for many years within a bottling plant where hearing protection only became enforced later than it should have been, in breach of the relevant regulations. Our client suffered some hearing loss and tinnitus as a result. A court action had to be raised on his behalf, but after a few months his employer admitted liability. After extensive negotiations, we settled the claim for £35,000.

In achieving such a high settlement, we were able to rely on a new chapter within The Judicial College Guidelines, which allows extra compensation to be awarded where the need for hearing aids has been caused by work-related hearing loss. This is in addition to the cost of the hearing aids themselves, which can also be claimed (which we did for our client).

In her job as a bottling hall line operator, our client carried out a lot of heavy lifting, particularly when heavy machine components had to be removed and replaced. Although this happened up to four times each shift, her employer had never risk assessed the task. Our client alleged a shoulder injury, but the employer firmly denied liability. They did not accept that the manual handling had caused her injury. 

We obtained a supportive medical opinion and raised proceedings in The National Personal Injury Court. We also obtained a court order to access the premises with an expert witness engineer. Over time we gathered a host of supportive evidence. At the pre-trial meeting our client’s employer made no proposals, so we were preparing for the final hearing. They then lodged a proposal to settle for £17,000.  After rounds of negotiation, the case ultimately resolved for £42,500. Our client was highly delighted with the result.