The claimant suffered an injury to his middle and ring fingers that required surgery to repair tendons. The medical evidence was that he was fit to return to work by late February 2006, some five months after the accident. He was keen to resume work and had approached his employers seeking suitable light work.

He was asked to a meeting in March 2006 and sacked as it was agreed he was unfit for his pre-accident job. He appealed the dismissal and an unfair dismissal claim was run and settled at £5,000. He was unable, despite his best efforts, to find work until April 2007 when he obtained a part time job at a lower rate of pay than his pre-accident job.

We claimed an ongoing loss post dismissal to date and continuing and called union officials who gave statements in preparation for the employment claim to say that there were plenty of suitable alternative jobs available. The claimant filed a supplemental statement showing what efforts he had made to find work including a list of job applications submitted by the local Jobcentre.

The defendants argued there was no loss attributable to the accident post the dismissal. We were awarded a full loss to November 2006 and thereafter the Judge found the claimant had failed to mitigate his loss as he had failed to apply directly for a job with the defendants after having being notified in writing that there were some vacancies.

The claimant had replied by letter saying that he was interested but had not actually contacted them further and the HR manager gave evidence that she had telephoned and left a message for the claimant, which the claimant denied. The Judge indicated that, but for the evidence of the telephone call, we may have succeeded in the ongoing partial loss claim.

Robinson -v- Rite Vent. Newcastle County Court, October 2007.

MOD increases compensation for military personnel

The MOD has completed its review of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Currently, the most seriously injured receive lump sum compensation payments for only the three worst injuries. Under the new proposals, the lump sum compensation payment for the most seriously injured will be based on the full rate for all their injuries in a single incident at the highest lump sum of £285,000.