Compensation culture - scourge of modern life?
Discussion
Who saw this prog last night?
A headteacher in a London school spending THREE DAYS A WEEK (!!!!!!!) dealing with the ambulance chasing leech letters...
A games teacher worrying about his kids having an injury whilst playing footie, currently facing two seperate claims and questionning the whole feasability of sports in British schools...
Scurrilous leech advocates propositioning people on the street over accidents sustained...
A metal fabricator whose perfectly profitable panel beating business had to cease trading because the claims by numerous dodgy workers had resulted in no insurance company wanting to touch the company - result? All remaining, perfectly decent employees get the pink slip...
A builder whose insurance premiums sky rocketed from £10k to £200 grand becuae of apparently short sighted pededstrians consistently colliding with their scaffolding...
I reckon it's all getting out of hand; Ted has posted rants on this before and this programme really stamped a sort of semi official, general recognition of the problem by the media, which for once, is a good thing.
What do you eminent thinkers out there in PH land say?
A headteacher in a London school spending THREE DAYS A WEEK (!!!!!!!) dealing with the ambulance chasing leech letters...
A games teacher worrying about his kids having an injury whilst playing footie, currently facing two seperate claims and questionning the whole feasability of sports in British schools...
Scurrilous leech advocates propositioning people on the street over accidents sustained...
A metal fabricator whose perfectly profitable panel beating business had to cease trading because the claims by numerous dodgy workers had resulted in no insurance company wanting to touch the company - result? All remaining, perfectly decent employees get the pink slip...
A builder whose insurance premiums sky rocketed from £10k to £200 grand becuae of apparently short sighted pededstrians consistently colliding with their scaffolding...
I reckon it's all getting out of hand; Ted has posted rants on this before and this programme really stamped a sort of semi official, general recognition of the problem by the media, which for once, is a good thing.
What do you eminent thinkers out there in PH land say?
Yeah - I saw this - made reference to it in Ted's recent thread
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=23510
Regarding the women who sued her dinner party host as she fell through the chair slightly grazing herself and was upset as everyone laughed.
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=23510
Regarding the women who sued her dinner party host as she fell through the chair slightly grazing herself and was upset as everyone laughed.
Big M - THAT'S INSANE!
What is wrong with people? At what point/time did everyone wake up and say, "I know; I'm going to be a completely unreasonable, contemptuously self-serving tosser?"
Thing that gets me is that these idiots are actually shooting themselves in the foot. Car premiums up an average of 40% (
) and household policies 15%
Can't some people see further than the end of their noses?
What is wrong with people? At what point/time did everyone wake up and say, "I know; I'm going to be a completely unreasonable, contemptuously self-serving tosser?"
Thing that gets me is that these idiots are actually shooting themselves in the foot. Car premiums up an average of 40% (
) and household policies 15% Can't some people see further than the end of their noses?
This sort of thing really winds me up.
My Sister and BIL had a bad car accident three years ago - women hit them head on. They got about £9k for my sister's broken collar bone and are still negotiating for my BIL who was left with one leg longer than the other. He has not worked since as he is signed off sick (!) - but he can drive and there is nothing wrong with his voice and hands.
I was born with one leg slightly longer than the other - I have severe arthritis in both knees and am in almost constant pain. So who do I sue? No one - I just get on with my life - I work full time - study part time and have a full social life. Shit happens but life goes on.
My Sister and BIL had a bad car accident three years ago - women hit them head on. They got about £9k for my sister's broken collar bone and are still negotiating for my BIL who was left with one leg longer than the other. He has not worked since as he is signed off sick (!) - but he can drive and there is nothing wrong with his voice and hands.
I was born with one leg slightly longer than the other - I have severe arthritis in both knees and am in almost constant pain. So who do I sue? No one - I just get on with my life - I work full time - study part time and have a full social life. Shit happens but life goes on.
Big_M said: This sort of thing really winds me up.
My Sister and BIL had a bad car accident three years ago - women hit them head on. They got about £9k for my sister's broken collar bone and are still negotiating for my BIL who was left with one leg longer than the other. He has not worked since as he is signed off sick (!) - but he can drive and there is nothing wrong with his voice and hands.
I was born with one leg slightly longer than the other - I have severe arthritis in both knees and am in almost constant pain. So who do I sue? No one - I just get on with my life - I work full time - study part time and have a full social life. Shit happens but life goes on.
Big_M , you have hit the nail on the head with your last sentence. Most decent people would just get on with it and berate themselves for not looking where they are going.
Every January my Liver takes out a law suit to sue my right hand, Mouth, and deicision making faculties in an action over persistent alcohol abuse
My liver contends that it is a wronged party being persistently damaged with whiskey, flippin great bottles of whiskey. It is seeking £14bn and a transplant to cliff richard.
This law suit has yet to suceed but it can only be a matter of time.... next year I may try it in a Los Angeles courtroom for extra daftness
My liver contends that it is a wronged party being persistently damaged with whiskey, flippin great bottles of whiskey. It is seeking £14bn and a transplant to cliff richard.
This law suit has yet to suceed but it can only be a matter of time.... next year I may try it in a Los Angeles courtroom for extra daftness
I think Ted's relayed missive in the other thread pretty much sums it up. Times were simpler even a mere 20 years ago.
When I left school at the end of the 6th form, I very much saw what I thought was right and wrong with the school. Having seen things change over a period I wondered if I'd just gotten away with the last 'decent' state education. Some of the namby pamby lefty feminist nonsense policies we were starting to be exposed to in my last couple of years at school beggared belief. Don't get me started on the national curriculum!
If my theory of having got the last decent education is correct, then it would concur with my experience that when I speak to people a bit younger than me they're often really on a different planet. Sometimes I think, as we all do, "bloody hell.. was I that naive when I was that age?" Other times, however I have to think, "We're really fcuked if you're the future of our country."
A lot of things have, in my view, contributed to the problem. Individually, these things aren't necessarily problems, but:
i) Rise of consumerism and the 'need' for consumer goods. Avarice is rife.
ii) Sales/Viewing figures drive sensationism in the media who cast "shock horror tragedy victims" concepts upon the most mundane, unfortunate, everyday happenings. Victim culture is rife.
- Today's news: "
SHIT HAPPENS - GET A LIFE! "
iii) People are much better educated and more aware of their rights. Too many people have an unjustified sense of self-importance.
iv) The collapse of religion in the UK has contributed to a 'moral vaccuum', because too many passively aethesistic people fail to recognise that rejecting religion does not mean rejecting morality in itself. The two main worthwhile functions of religion are to instill some morality and to provide people who need it with a framework of support and guidance in living their lives. When the popular religions of the day are Big Brother, Friends and Football, is it any surprise that society is morally as rudderless as a Concorde?
Im not saying that there's anything wrong with being an aetheist - as I am myself - nor am I about to be born again into religion. I just think that people who reject religion have a duty to think for themselves and figure out what their morality is and how to reasonably adhere to it. Unfortunately, that doesn't often occur in the less intellectually curious members of our society.
I also know that religion has done as much harm as good, in terms of instilling morality of dubious merit and perpetuating conflict in it's name.
[work calls.. I may come back and add to this post. Basically, we're screwed. It's every man for himself.]
When I left school at the end of the 6th form, I very much saw what I thought was right and wrong with the school. Having seen things change over a period I wondered if I'd just gotten away with the last 'decent' state education. Some of the namby pamby lefty feminist nonsense policies we were starting to be exposed to in my last couple of years at school beggared belief. Don't get me started on the national curriculum!
If my theory of having got the last decent education is correct, then it would concur with my experience that when I speak to people a bit younger than me they're often really on a different planet. Sometimes I think, as we all do, "bloody hell.. was I that naive when I was that age?" Other times, however I have to think, "We're really fcuked if you're the future of our country."
A lot of things have, in my view, contributed to the problem. Individually, these things aren't necessarily problems, but:
i) Rise of consumerism and the 'need' for consumer goods. Avarice is rife.
ii) Sales/Viewing figures drive sensationism in the media who cast "shock horror tragedy victims" concepts upon the most mundane, unfortunate, everyday happenings. Victim culture is rife.
- Today's news: "
SHIT HAPPENS - GET A LIFE! " iii) People are much better educated and more aware of their rights. Too many people have an unjustified sense of self-importance.
iv) The collapse of religion in the UK has contributed to a 'moral vaccuum', because too many passively aethesistic people fail to recognise that rejecting religion does not mean rejecting morality in itself. The two main worthwhile functions of religion are to instill some morality and to provide people who need it with a framework of support and guidance in living their lives. When the popular religions of the day are Big Brother, Friends and Football, is it any surprise that society is morally as rudderless as a Concorde?
Im not saying that there's anything wrong with being an aetheist - as I am myself - nor am I about to be born again into religion. I just think that people who reject religion have a duty to think for themselves and figure out what their morality is and how to reasonably adhere to it. Unfortunately, that doesn't often occur in the less intellectually curious members of our society.
I also know that religion has done as much harm as good, in terms of instilling morality of dubious merit and perpetuating conflict in it's name.
[work calls.. I may come back and add to this post. Basically, we're screwed. It's every man for himself.]
Patronising
JonRB said: Good heavens! A post from derestrictor that was not deliberately obfuscated with fustian and grandiloquent rhetoric - it was actually readable and worth reading!
It is Plain English day after all..
>> Edited by CarZee (moderator) on Thursday 5th December 09:57
Don't you guys consider it a possibility that with such a high and seemingly increasing propensity to sue, normal patterns of behaviour may be adversely affected?
There was that other bloke too, recently, blithering on about legal action agaisnst his daughter's choir master because she hadn't been selected for the Charlotte Church Uber Brat of The Year Contest.
Lots of pathetic little sheisters with nothing better to do than stomp around all indignantly, as if they were victims of some horrific war crime or such like.
Bloody peasants.
There was that other bloke too, recently, blithering on about legal action agaisnst his daughter's choir master because she hadn't been selected for the Charlotte Church Uber Brat of The Year Contest.
Lots of pathetic little sheisters with nothing better to do than stomp around all indignantly, as if they were victims of some horrific war crime or such like.
Bloody peasants.
Bloody lawyers!
They've got a lot to answer for.
There was a story a while ago where a fella got his leg broken in a pub football match and was sueing the fella who did it for over £1 million pounds.
Its this sort of thing thats going to kill amatuer sport dead in its tracks.
Whilst there are examples being set in courts in the UK and the US like that stupid cow with the Mcdonalds coffee then this is going to get worse and worse I reckon.
The way we are going its going to get the point that person a sues person b and then person b countersues for causing mental anguish or some such shit.
Country, hell, handbasket.
Matt.
They've got a lot to answer for.
There was a story a while ago where a fella got his leg broken in a pub football match and was sueing the fella who did it for over £1 million pounds.
Its this sort of thing thats going to kill amatuer sport dead in its tracks.
Whilst there are examples being set in courts in the UK and the US like that stupid cow with the Mcdonalds coffee then this is going to get worse and worse I reckon.
The way we are going its going to get the point that person a sues person b and then person b countersues for causing mental anguish or some such shit.
Country, hell, handbasket.
Matt.
That's already happening.. the safety culture and compensation culture are symbiotic. Thinks that we did 20 years ago are unthinkable now to the 'sensible majority'. As a society we're turning into pussies.
derestrictor said: Don't you guys consider it a possibility that with such a high and seemingly increasing propensity to sue, normal patterns of behaviour may be adversely affected?
Healthy (predominantly masculine) pursuits are frowned upon like never before.
Here's one for the lawyers: could you feasibly BAN this type of advocacy?
When you see a bloke leave prison after 25 years following the quashing of his conviction, I tend to feel sorry - immensely sorry - for the guy. You have to, really, if we are to have any faith in the judicial system. But how much compensation does he get. A few million sounds quite reasonable to me but according to my wife, a radio discussion yesterday was suggesting that he was in line for precisely squat; zilch. Now that sounds inconceivable...
...thus, how to reconcile the law so that massively deserving cases are compensated appropriately but ridiculous chancers are not just prevented from the general rodgering of society but are positively deterred from pursuing bogus claims for fear of some kind of charge for wasting court time or something with a suitable fine attached?
Something HAS to give, surely? What thinkest thou?
When you see a bloke leave prison after 25 years following the quashing of his conviction, I tend to feel sorry - immensely sorry - for the guy. You have to, really, if we are to have any faith in the judicial system. But how much compensation does he get. A few million sounds quite reasonable to me but according to my wife, a radio discussion yesterday was suggesting that he was in line for precisely squat; zilch. Now that sounds inconceivable...
...thus, how to reconcile the law so that massively deserving cases are compensated appropriately but ridiculous chancers are not just prevented from the general rodgering of society but are positively deterred from pursuing bogus claims for fear of some kind of charge for wasting court time or something with a suitable fine attached?
Something HAS to give, surely? What thinkest thou?
I think the whole idea stinks to high heaven - its not a case now of balance between law and justice, but law only. Justice and common sense don't come into the equation at all.
What would Solomon have made of all of this? The rot really started when the ambulance chasers were allowed to advertise - and now there's one company who will give you half of wha they think you might get, up front, free and gratis. And if you lose the case, you get to keep the money .......... go figure the financial model of that company??? But all it does is increase the number of stupid cases going to court and line the pockets of the lawyers/barristers.
FFS, you walk into some scaffolding - are you f&cking blind???
I'm with Carzee and Deres on this one - SHIT HAPPENS, DEAL WITH IT!
What would Solomon have made of all of this? The rot really started when the ambulance chasers were allowed to advertise - and now there's one company who will give you half of wha they think you might get, up front, free and gratis. And if you lose the case, you get to keep the money .......... go figure the financial model of that company??? But all it does is increase the number of stupid cases going to court and line the pockets of the lawyers/barristers.
FFS, you walk into some scaffolding - are you f&cking blind???
I'm with Carzee and Deres on this one - SHIT HAPPENS, DEAL WITH IT!
agent006 said: It's the fault of the courts, if they told more people to piss off and not be so stupid, people wouldn't bother going to court in the first place.
Yeah why was the judge confrunted with the dozy bint who spilt her coffee on her lap not able to just say- "Sorry luv, coffee is usually hot, & if you spill it on yourself its quite obious you may get burned, so I suggest you sod off, get a life and stop wasting my time". "Oh and by the way here is a bill for $10,000 for wasting the courts time"
that would send a message out to the bloodsucking leeches 
Another one of my pet peeves!! Compensation seekers= selfish, moronic money grabbing f*****s. The worst being the 'whiplash crew'. Its such a piss take it's untrue, have a crash, wear a neck collar get £1000. The worst thing is these people havent got for foresight to see that although you get your £1000 the insurance company is only going to get it back over the next few years in premium raises!!!
New case in America, police officer is sueing George Michael for $6 million for mental distress and slander?????????? Apprently he suffered this because of the video George made about the incident.
New case in America, police officer is sueing George Michael for $6 million for mental distress and slander?????????? Apprently he suffered this because of the video George made about the incident.
Actually guys despite me hating the blood sucking leaches sueing for no reason, I'm in court soon ref a motorbike crash. Situation- I'm happily bumbling through town at just under 30mph when dim bint shoots right out of a side road, throws me over her car & wrecks the bike. Now wrecked bike & gear has been sorted by insurance as 100% her fault.
But despite over 2 yrs of physio and several quick fixes by specialists, I still have a shagged knee that hurts most of the time & I'm gunna be stuck with till I die, unless I get an artificial one made.
So do you reckon I'm in with the leaches? coz I don't, but I am quite scared about having a ****ed knee for the rest of my life because of the stupid blind driver. I guess If I do get any money it wont stop my knee being shagged, but it could if I invest it and thus it could pay for the artifical replacement when im an old fella who cant walk properly?
So what do ya reckon leech or genuine compo case?
But despite over 2 yrs of physio and several quick fixes by specialists, I still have a shagged knee that hurts most of the time & I'm gunna be stuck with till I die, unless I get an artificial one made.
So do you reckon I'm in with the leaches? coz I don't, but I am quite scared about having a ****ed knee for the rest of my life because of the stupid blind driver. I guess If I do get any money it wont stop my knee being shagged, but it could if I invest it and thus it could pay for the artifical replacement when im an old fella who cant walk properly?
So what do ya reckon leech or genuine compo case?
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