It's been a down and dirty week in the compensation industry

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It's been a down and dirty week in the compensation industry [1st Aug 2011]

Victims of the nuclear testing carried out by the government in the Pacific during the 1950's have come one step closer to receiving compensation this week. They have been given permission by the Supreme Court to argue for the right to compensation. The Court of Appeal had previously ruled that there was no right to claim damages, the Supreme Court has said that this decision can be fought. A further hearing will be held in November to see if damages claims can be pursued. More than 1,000 ex-servicemen are wanting to claim damages from the MoD due to problems such as cancer, skin defects and problems with fertility. Neil Sampson who is acting for the group says that the government has treated them terribly and that they will continue their fight for justice. He points out it will still be months before another hearing. It had been found in the past that these cases were statute barred as they were too old.

Spanish owned bank Santander has seen its profits drop by 21% this year due to the cost of paying for the mis-selling of PPI insurance. The bank set aside £538 million to pay the compensation and this has meant that profits have fallen significantly. Ana Botin from Santander has commented that the bank was still nevertheless meeting its commitment to lend to small businesses and homeowners. In addition the bank has concerns about the government requirements to hold more liquid assets such as bonds. The amount of these held has already been increased by more than £30 billion.

Royal Mail has announced that it would like to amend the way it pays compensation for lost or damaged items which were "untracked". Any changes would affect business customers only, but there would be no change to franked or stamped mail. The Royal Mail is hoping to reduce the amount of time a customer has to claim compensation for lost or damaged items to just 60 days from the current one year. In addition the RM is asking to be allowed to leave mail with a neighbour if it does not fit though a letter box or if it needs to be signed for and the homeowner is not in. They say other delivery services do this as a matter of course. A spokesperson from Consumer Focus has commented that the amount of time to claim compensation is too short. He points out that a claim cannot even be started until 15 days has passed.

A group of hundreds of tourists who were taken ill with food poisoning while on holiday in Turkey have gone to the Royal Courts of Justice to fight for compensation. Law firm Irwin Mitchell is representing the group against holiday company Tui UK which is part of First Choice. 600 holiday makers stayed at the Holiday Village in Sarigerme between May and October 2009. However other groups have taken similar action against the hotel since 2005. The tour operators have been criticised for not living up to their responsibilities and that the holidays had been ruined and their health compromised. Despite warnings the hotel had continued to offer substandard service. First Choice say that more than 90% of those who stayed at the hotel in recent years had rated it as good or excellent.

It has emerged that Cornwall Council has paid out more than £470,000 in compensation to ex-staff alone in the last four years. The claims made included sex discrimination, unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, breaches of contract and redundancy payments. In some cases staff were able to claim for two of these categories at once. The worst year was 2009 which happens to coincide with when the councils six individual authorities were made into one. In some cases the claims had reached court but many were settled out of court. It has been pointed out that the real losers are the people who live in the area who are effectively paying for these claims through higher council tax bills.

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