Compo culture

It's more or less one every day at the moment....


A man who gave nine variations of an accident he suffered at work has had his €60,000 damages claim dismissed by the Circuit Civil Court.

Mr English pointed out that Andrei had eventually attended a doctor in April 2015 in Leixlip despite the fact he had been living in Castleknock at the time. He said Andrei had attended this GP under the instruction of his solicitors.

Interesting that it was the solicitor who advised his client to attend a doctor in Leixlip, in April 2015, after the accident in February 2015.
The more I think about it, these spurious claims are being driven by the legal profession itself.
A professional solicitor would have asked the client for a doctor's report. Upon telling the solicitor that he had not been to a doctor, the solicitor should have informed him that there was no case to put forward, and said goodbye. Instead, he advised his client to attend a doctor and nominated the doctor himself.

The original purpose of the law is to protect against the abuse of state power. No abuse is worse than the organs of the state against a private citizen.

The man deserves a public apology from the garda Commissioner and indeed even from the President on behalf of the state. He also deserves substantial financial compensation, say six months income, I would call that substantial. €1.1m is insane.

Is Garda Theresa Phillips going to be held accountable for her actions on the night.

Credit where it is due the Gardai did eventually arrest and get a conviction against the guilty person.

Purple said:

I'd take it for half the money.
For €1.1 million they could have done waterboarding.

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The guy was was arrested and detained for something he didn't do, he was pepper sprayed 3 times, he was hosed down with a cold water hose in a Garda carpark at 2am in the morning in the middle of winter twice and then left sit in a cold pee covered cell in his wet clothes. He was subsequently diagnosed with PTSD which to me is perfectly understandable. Imagine how angry we'd be if this happened an Irish man in London. Good for him if he got €1.1m and hopefuly now the new Garda commissioner will do the right thing and sack the officers in question

Peanuts20 said:

The guy was was arrested and detained for something he didn't do, he was pepper sprayed 3 times, he was hosed down with a cold water hose in a Garda carpark at 2am in the morning in the middle of winter twice and then left sit in a cold pee covered cell in his wet clothes. He was subsequently diagnosed with PTSD which to me is perfectly understandable. Imagine how angry we'd be if this happened an Irish man in London. Good for him if he got €1.1m and hopefuly now the new Garda commissioner will do the right thing and sack the officers in question

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€1.1 million of taxpayers money that won't be spent on something else.
He certainly deserved compensation but maybe €30k-€40k.

I bet the officer in question won't be sacked. She should be, but she won't be.

Purple said:

€1.1 million of taxpayers money that won't be spent on something else.
He certainly deserved compensation but maybe €30k-€40k.
I bet the officer in question won't be sacked. She should be, but she won't be.

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The officer in question should be in jail and stripped of pension.

As for the payout, I'd go for somewhere in between your figures, let's say €100,000

Part of the issue here is that the state contested everything on this case and it took 7 years to come to a conclusion. They continued to fight after someone else was convicted of the original assault. To me, the Gardai should be held to a higher standard with higher consequences, both for the officers in question and for the force as a whole. Hence I have no issue with the €1.1m although I expect it will be reduced on appeal.

odyssey06 said:

The officer in question should be in jail and stripped of pension.

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Well the behaviour of the gard in question should certainly be investigated, and the training regime which produced such attitudes.

Certainly her pension and that of the others whose actions contributed to the payout cost should be used to recoup the cost to the tax payer.

Peanuts20 said:

Hence I have no issue with the €1.1m although I expect it will be reduced on appeal.

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I have a feeling it will be paid to get it out of the news..

cremeegg said:

Certainly her pension and that of the others whose actions contributed to the payout cost should be used to recoup the cost to the tax payer.

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You'd only need one of their pensions to recoup the cost to the State.

He showed CCTV of an incident where a customer was punched in the face by a friend.
They dubbed it the 'tooth fairy case' after she later brought a compensation claim.
She said she slipped on the floor in the venue, damaged her teeth and tried to claim over €8,000 in medical expenses.
However, after watching back the CCTV footage, they realised she hadn't fallen and had gotten into a row with her friend.
She dropped the case after being informed of what the CCTV showed.
"We have 80 CCTV cameras watching everything in the venue. This girl had a medical bill for €8,500 and wanted us to pay it but we weren't going to pay when we did nothing in the wrong.

"We had another case involving two teachers, we dubbed that case the 'dancing queens'. It was around Christmas time and one of them fell, cracked her tooth and wanted to see the CCTV as she wanted to bring a claim. She said she fell on a slippery floor but we had evidence showing otherwise. Her friend was holding her dancing and let her go and when we showed her what actually happened, she ran out of the pub."


A former nightclub owner in Co Tipperary told how he had to close down his business because he couldn't afford the insurance costs after a string of compensation claims by customers.

The 58-year-old, who owned a club that had been in his family for 120 years, shut the club down in the summer of 2016 as it was costing him €35,000 to insure the premises each year.

In November, Supermac's received a solicitor's letter advising how the man in question intended to bring a personal injury claim.
"We are instructed by our client that he was caused to fall due to the condition of the floor of the men's toilets in your premises and as a consequence thereof suffered injuries, loss and damage," the letter reads.
CCTV recorded shows the man walking into the bathroom and photographing an area of the ground covered in the water.
He then leaves the bathroom, returns around 15 minutes later and can be seen corresponding with someone before he appears to slip and fall.
The man can be seen grabbing his head and knocking on the door looking for assistance in the footage.
Towards the end of the video, he wriggles forward and continues to lie on the ground.

A woman who claimed she suffered "possible PTSD" and stopped eating in restaurants after she allegedly found a thumbtack in her chips - dropped a personal injuries case against Supermac's after footage emerged of her dining in a hotel.
She took legal action after eating in the Carrick-on-Suir branch in February 2016.
The claimant proceeded to Tipperary Circuit Court but withdrew the case after the defence declared it had video footage of her eating a carvery at the Carraig Hotel in Carrick-on-Suir in October 2017 - over two months before she swore an affidavit claiming she could no longer eat in restaurants.
"The fall guy ends up being the taxpayer," Mr McDonagh said.

Pat McDonagh, contesting claims and beating McDonalds in a copyright action. The man's a hero.

My issue is that in these cases, there is no action taken against the individuals who are obviously engaged in fraudulent activity.

Seagull said:

My issue is that in these cases, there is no action taken against the individuals who are obviously engaged in fraudulent activity.

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Exactly. There is no downside so nothing to stop them chancing their arm..

Boy in €60,000 injury case filmed jumping off bridges

Mr Martin presented the Circuit Civil Court judge with online evidence of a young Reece Fagan, of Rutland Court, Dublin 1, somersaulting off bridges into water and scrambling on his scrambler motorbike only weeks after a collision in which he claimed he had received neck injuries.

Mr Martin told Judge O'Connor he believed the case had been fraudulent as both Mr Fagan and Mr Ryan had "run away" over lunch.

The solicitors taking these cases are wising up....

Solicitors were always aware of these scams, all they cared about was whether they could win in court regardless, solicitors have been part of the problem of compo culture, this was obvious from the Maria Bailey case.
They are only "wising up" because public opinion has turned heavily against compo culture especially since Maria Bailey, they just want to position themselves onside of public opinion, they are only shifting now because of public opinion.

Firefly said:

Mr English pointed out that Andrei had eventually attended a doctor in April 2015 in Leixlip despite the fact he had been living in Castleknock at the time. He said Andrei had attended this GP under the instruction of his solicitors.

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It will be interesting to see the outcome of the Law Society's investigation into the solicitor in question and whether criminal proceedings will be brought against them if it is found that they were a knowing accomplice in the scam.

I won't hold my breath though.