Slip and Fall Compensation Lawyers Win Cole’s Case

Coles has fallen foul of the new legal trend in Australia, which sees successful compensation complaints by plaintiffs being awarded substantial amounts of money. In this particular case, a woman wearing thongs whilst shopping in a Cole’s supermarket slipped and injured herself. But the term ‘injured herself’ is not correct, as the court found that the lady concerned slipped because of Cole’s negligence. She was walking in front of a refrigerated cabinet containing fruit and vegetables; and was accompanied by her eight-year-old son. Apparently, the woman did the splits and then, was flung of her feet to hit the ground painfully.

Ms Hill, the woman who suffered the fall and consequent injuries, was awarded $292 335 in the NSW District Court. Her injuries to her left ankle required surgery, crutches for several weeks, and she now walks with a permanent limp. Judge Phillip Mahoney described her injury as severe and that this has affected her mobility and her ability to carry out the normal tasks of life. The amount of compensation awarded was influenced by the fact that Ms Hill had a disabled husband and the injury had made domestic life extremely challenging for the plaintiff.

Coles had argued that Ms Hill had injured herself through failing to be observant as to nearby hazards; and that it was her negligence which had caused the fall and the resultant injury. An employee of the Coles company gave evidence that he did not see anything on the ground immediately after Ms Hill’s fall. The court viewed CCTV footage from the supermarket, but critically there were 27 seconds of the film missing which would have shown the fall. Counsel for the plaintiff submitted that one could infer that the CCTV footage had been tampered with, but this was denied by the Cole’s store manager who had provided the CCTV footage. In the end, Judge Mahoney disagreed with Coles and found that Coles had a responsibility to ensure that its supermarket was safe for customers; and that there should have been a mat in front of the refrigerated cabinet. The mat, which was usually in place, had not been replaced by cleaners after cleaning the supermarket floor in this part of the store.

Slip and fall compensation lawyers win Cole’s case and pave the way for more successful compensatory cases like this in the future. Responsibility lies not with the individual anymore but with those who entice him or her into their store.

Sexual Assault and Rape Compensation Lawyers

We live in a new world where sexual assault is no longer, merely, suffered in silence, but has become a deafening roar. Women, and some men, who claim to be sexually assaulted are reporting these crimes in ever increasing numbers, right around the western world. In the United States, especially at its many colleges and universities, sexual assault and the judicial system are coming under attack from both sides. One in five women and one in twenty men have been victims of sexual abuse through non-consensual sex, according to research conducted by the Association of American Universities. In Australia, serious numbers of sexual abuse claims are also occurring at our universities.

In the US women are claiming to have been sexually assaulted in substantial numbers and the universities’ responses are being challenged by male students, who have been punished by the institutions but are claiming their innocence. Former students who were expelled after being found guilty of sexual abuse by the university are now suing these institutions for wrongful disciplinary findings and damages to reputation and future earnings. In the US, which is the home of the compensation industry at large, lawyers are hard at work making the lives of university vice-chancellors a misery. Colleges are being accused of being too quick to condemn accused students so that they appear to be tough on sexual abuse on campus. Investigations have been found to be cursory rather than exhaustive, which can lead to these expensive compensatory consequences later on. Sexual assault and rape compensation lawyers are spoiling the politically correct party for these American colleges and universities.

Looking at this from a sociological perspective, you have large numbers of young and sexually active people all in close proximity to each other. You most likely also have alcohol and drug use contributing to a fuelled atmosphere. In addition, you have a climate of complaint and legal redress in the United States unparalleled at any other time in history. Together this is a recipe for a social bomb ready to go off at campuses around America and probably right around the western world. There is no denying that there are victims of sexual abuse and the abusers should by rights be punished, but the seriousness of the charge of rape deserves lengthy investigation, which universities are not really set up to perform. The justice department may need to create a preliminary investigative body to properly examine these charges before they go to full trial. Students would be suspended from studies pending the outcome of these investigations by a proper judicial authority.