Milly Dowler's Family to Receive £2m Compensation

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Milly Dowler's Family Offered £2m Compensation from News of the World's Rupert Murdoch [22nd Sep 2011]

The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler have this week been offered a compensation payment of £2 million from the Murdoch empire for the hacking of their daughter's phone while she was missing. In addition Rupert Murdoch has said he will give £1 million to charity. The hacking of the phone was the most shocking fact to come out of the recent events which led to the demise of The News of The World. It has been pointed out that the most the family could have expected to get from the UK compensation system would have been £11,000. While it is suspected that the Dowler family lawyers have been pursuing the Murdochs for the money, some commentators have questions why the package is so high and what they intend on doing with the money. It is being hoped that the money will be used to support the fund set up in the name of Milly.

It has been suggested by a national compensation law firm that the changes which are proposed for the legal system surrounding compensation could lead to an increased burden on the NHS. National Accident Helpline suggest that people will be deterred from seeking compensation when they are hurt, limiting the amount of money they will have for their care. The NHS will need to pick up any shortfall. Samantha Porteous from the company has said that they believe the government has ignored the type of impact of their decision to curb the use of No Win No Fee lawyers could have on front-line health services. However a spokesman from the NHS has said that they do not expect any impact at all and that now was too early to predict what the outcome could be.

A medical safety charity, Action Against Medical Accidents is fighting recent proposals to cut legal aid for those left damaged by the NHS. Judicial review proceedings have been lodged and the charity is hoping that the government will review the decision as they say it is irrational and unfair. The charity claims that people will be denied the compensation they need to care for seriously injured family members. It is being suggested that those cases which would normally go through the legal aid route will now be taken up by No Win No Fee lawyers. However this area of law is also being tightened up. Lord Justice Jackson has agreed that the decision to cut legal aid will hit the poorest people the hardest and that the removal of legal aid from medical negligence cases is the most unfortunate aspect of the reform.

The UK government has agreed to pay compensation to the families of those killed or wounded during the Bloody Sunday killings in 1972. British soldiers opened fire on protesters during a civil rights march in Londonderry and 13 people were killed. The Ministry of Defence has written to the families to make the offer after they were asked to do so by the government. However not all victims and their families welcome the offer and two have already turned it down and some are saying they will not agree to compensation until at least one soldier has been prosecuted. The MoD has admitted that the soldiers involved acted shamefully and that the government was deeply sorry about what happened. The lawyers acting on behalf of the victims have made it clear that the compensation which has already been received was derisory and was not "proper". Therefore any new claims should not take this into account.

The minister of energy and climate change, Chris Huhne, has said this week that energy companies may be required to pay out compensation to their customers if they let them down. Ofgem, the industry regulator would be given powers to force energy companies to give money to consumers who have been wronged. The money should be paid directly to the consumer or into a fund which will directly benefit them. At the moment energy companies can be fined, but not forced to make amends to their customers. This move comes as Mr Huhne has said he will get tough on energy companies and just as all six major providers have increased their tariffs.

Other popular articles related to this one include: NHS Negligence Compensation Problems, Financial Services Compensation Scheme, Gender Discrimination in the Workplace, Unfair Dismissal Law Changes, Insurance Compensation Claim Fraud, Asbestos Compensation Claims, Pleural Plaque Asbestos Compensation Claims, and . Please let us know if you find any errors.

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