COMPENSATION CLAIMS THAT STINK...

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A secretary who claims she suffers from the "winter blues" has demanded over £15million in compensation because she was not given a desk near a window. Caryl Dontfraid is suing her ex-employers for the huge sum after being fired for refusing to work at her desk. She said she suffers from seasonal affective disorder which causes depression and the problem can be eased by exposure to bright light.

Miss Dontfraid said her request to sit near a window or a well lit area was rejected by bosses of the New York law firm where she worked. She first asked to be allowed to work at home, and when this was rejected requested to be moved next to a window. After she refused to sit at her desk, which the law firm claim was three feet from a window, she was sacked. Her supervisor David Hill, at law firm Binder and Binder, said, "She just refused to take her work station. What was I going to do? Workers have to work." (Source: Daily Mail, May/07)

Nearly 200 prisoners and former inmates forced to stop taking drugs by going "cold turkey" are to receive payments. The unspecified settlement followed claims the practice amounted to assault and a breach of human rights. The claimants had been using heroin and other opiates and were understood to been receiving alternative treatment before going to prison. The Home Office said it "reluctantly" decided to settle out of court to "minimise costs to the taxpayer".

The settlement originates from a test case, when six claimants were given the green light to sue the Home Office. They said once in jail, and under the responsibility of the Prison Service in England and Wales, they were made to go "cold turkey", where drugs are withdrawn or cut short. A Home Office spokesperson said the pay-outs would be awarded to 198 applicants, and not just the six involved in the test case.

The claimants were bringing the action based on trespass, because they say they did not consent to the treatment, and for alleged clinical negligence. Their barrister Richard Hermer told an earlier hearing, "Many of the prisoners were receiving methadone treatment before they entered prison and were upset at the short period of treatment using opiates they encountered in jail. Imposing the short, sharp detoxification is the issue." (Source: BBC News, Nov/06)

A councillor, who slipped when she went to check dangerous seaweed in the DARK, won £25,000 compensation. Local Tory Lyn Bounds broke an ankle after she fell on the slime at a riverfront jetty. A council worker said, “Going down there at night was just asking for trouble.” Mrs Bounds, the then Fareham borough councillor, hurt herself when she slipped off its edge. She claimed she was unable to work properly for five months. The payout far outweighs awards made to victims of crime by the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority.

Under its rules a rape victim gets just £7,500. A Fareham council worker said, “Mrs Bounds’ award is an obscene amount, a waste of taxpayers’ money.” Mrs Bounds stepped down as a councillor in 2002. A county council spokesman said, “At the time of the incident there were reasons we felt it appropriate to settle the claim. But we’re not prepared to discuss the details.” Of spending public money? Caroline Maddick, the widow of a murder victim who won only £5,500 compensation, branded the award “appalling”.

A convicted killer was granted legal aid to sue the Home Secretary, for being flown to South Africa in handcuffs. Joseph Esau claimed he suffered distress and humiliation by being manacled in front of passengers and wanted a £500,000 pay-off. Esau jumped bail after a murder charge in South Africa and fled to Britain in 1991. After a claim for political asylum failed he married a British woman. He was jailed in London in 1999 for importing cannabis and deception and was ordered to be deported at the end of his sentence. While he was in jail the South African authorities demanded his return to stand trial and he was sent back in 2001. He was jailed for 20 years for murder, attempted murder, rape and firearms offences. And he felt humilated?

A drunk who fell down the stairs when he tried to change a lightbulb received £100,000 damages. Window cleaner Ken Davies had downed TEN PINTS when he woke in the middle of the night. He noticed the bulb on the landing of his council house was flickering and decided to change it. He slipped and tried to grab the bulb with both hands, but toppled downstairs, damaging his spine. A High Court judge ruled he should get compensation, because the bulb was over the top stair and not immediately above the landing.

The piss-head decided to sue Denbighshire County Council on the grounds that the siting of the bulb was unsafe. He also claimed damages from E Williams Building Contractors and electrical sub-contractors EG Morris, of Denbigh, North Wales. The fittings on other houses on his council estate in Denbigh had been moved during recent renovation so they are directly over the landing.

Judge Derek Halbert, sitting in Chester, upheld his claim against both the council and sub-contractors but not against the main building contractors. He held them 25% responsible each, with Mr Davies 50% responsible for his own injuries by having drunk so much. A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said, “Drink is a major factor in many accidents in the home, and we know from drink-driving how much it impairs our judgement." It paid off in this case though.

Pervert Geoffrey Shepherd, a child rapist in prison, got legal aid to sue the Home Office because he said warders want to kill him. Shepherd said keeping him at the prison was a breach of his human rights and took his case to the High Court, funded by at least £10,000 of taxpayers' money. He claimed he was entitled to "his right to life and his right not to be tortured or given cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment".

Shepherd was jailed for life in May 1999 for the "wholesale abuse" of a brother and sister aged seven and 15 who he tied up with rope and forced to have sex. He told his terrified victims he had supernatural powers to scare them into obeying his orders. Jailing him at Teesside Crown Court on three counts of rape, Mr Justice Steel said, "I am left with a sense of complete revulsion with the perverted violation of these young people."

Gay inmate Gareth Evans also received £5,000 to sue the Prison Service after he was banned from kissing his boyfriend during visits to Saughton Jail, Edinburgh.

A man tried to sue the council after he soiled his own trousers. He blamed the embarrassing accident on the council's decision to close a public lavatory at a bus station, and claimed he was owed the cost of a new pair of trousers. The bizarre claim was among thousands of public liability claims which cost local government and insurance firms an estimated £250 million per year. Public sector insurer Zurich Municipal said many claimants are genuine but exaggerated and spurious claims are an increasing problem. The firm compiled a list of other ludicrous and dubious claims.

It includes a man who claimed to have injured his arm after slipping on steps owned by a housing association. In fact, he had jumped out of his window to avoid being caught with another woman when his girlfriend returned home unexpectedly. It also features a bin man who made a claim against his council after being "startled" by a dead badger which fell out of a bag, a shoplifter who sued because she fell down stairs while running from the scene of a crime, and a motorist who claimed he did not see a traffic roundabout in broad daylight, despite the fact that it had a large tree in the middle.

Prisoners are collecting thousands of pounds in compensation from the Home Office for everything from assault, medical negligence and harassment. A sample of 10 jails found that almost 500 inmates made claims over the past two years with those who were successful pocketing a total of £1.26 million. The biggest payouts were made at Wormwood Scrubs, London, where 48 lodged claims for assault by staff and received more than £1 million between them. Figures from the 10 jails showed £17,000 paid for injuries sustained in attacks by fellow prisoners. A total of £16,000 was paid to inmates injured in falls and £31,000 for alleged medical negligence but 22 failed in claims made for injuries suffered during sporting activities. (Source: Daily Telegraph, Apr/06)

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