Thalidomide Compensation Landmark Win [19th Jul 2012]
Thalidomide victims across the world could be in line for compensation from a UK company after an Australian woman received millions of pounds in compensation in a landmark case. Lynette Rowe was born in 1962 without arms or legs because her mother took the drug while pregnant. She took the UK company Diageo to court in her home city of Melbourne and won the settlement which will help her to live a more normal life. The exact details of the settlement are to remain confidential. Her lawyer says that she is hopeful that her win will spur on other victims to take the company responsible to court. In fact, it is thought that victims from New Zealand, the US and the UK could be among those who have a case. Mrs Rowe's mother said that she was told her child's deformities were due to a virus. She does not blame the doctor who prescribed the medication for morning sickness, but she does blame the companies which manufactured it without testing it properly. Related Stories: British drug firm to pay millions to Thalidomide victim born without arms and legs - www.dailymail.co.uk Experts are predicting that the Libor scandal involving UK banks will lead to litigation and demands for compensation. Lawyer William Butterfield from law firm Hausfield has stated that his firm is already talking to government, pension fund administrators and corporations regarding a class action. Morgan Stanley has also estimated that the banks involved could incur losses of £14 billion or around £4 billion per bank. Many of those looking at legal action were forced to buy insurances which protected them from interest hikes when they took out loans. However because the Libor rate was being manipulated, they were paying over the odds. The banks claimed that interest rates were going up and insisted on the insurance, yet they were manipulating the interest rate to keep them down making the insurance not necessary. Pension companies have also lost out due to lowered interest rates. In particular, many experts are questioning the reputation of the city and fear that jobs will be affected. Related Stories: Lawyers predict Libor losers will sue for compensation - www.bbc.co.uk A man who worked for Coca-Cola has been paid almost £6,000 from the company after he was temporarily blinded in an accident while at work. John Houghton worked at the Wakefield plant and was injured when a pipe burst spraying caustic cleaning fluid into his eyes. His injury took four weeks to recover from and he was blinded for the first three days. He has also been left with scars on his face and upper body from the burns. Mr Houghton's union, Unite took up his case and were able to settle out of court for £6,000. Coco-Cola have commented that they take the utmost care and are proud of the safety record they have at the plant. They have investigated how this happened and have taken steps to ensure it does not happen again. Related Stories: Coca-Cola pays worker compensation after blinding - www.foodmanufacture.co.uk Customers who were affected by the outage experienced by mobile operator O2 last week will receive compensation from the company. O2 have said they will give customers a minimum of £10 each. This is broken down as 10% off the July bill for Pay Monthly customers, which will be applied to the September invoice. Pay and Go customers will receive 10% off their first top-up made in September. All other customers will receive a £10 O2 voucher which they can spend on whatever they choose at the Priority Moments app store, online or directly at O2 stores. The company has released a statement which says that they want to make up for the loss of service experienced by their customers and that they recognise the frustration felt by those without use of their phones. Customers who use Tesco and GiffGaff phones will also receive compensation as they were directly affected. However these customers will not get the £10 voucher - simply a 10% bill reduction. Related Stories: O2 customers win compensation after network failure - www.guardian.co.uk O2 compensate with 10% off bills and £10 vouchers - www.thisismoney.co.uk  |
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