Access Legal From Shoosmiths Wins Compensation For Former Prison Officer

Access Legal from Shoosmiths has reported a significant compensation win for a former prison officer diagnosed with mesothelioma.

The 63 year old, who was diagnosed with the fatal illness in June 2011, sought advice from Access Legal from Shoosmiths, concerned to ensure his wife would be adequately provided for in the event of his inevitable death. The Yorkshire man had worked for the prison service in the 1990’s up until the early 2000’s. It was during this period that he was exposed to asbestos when he was required to inspect the prison boiler houses, roofs and cellars which contained asbestos and were in a poor state of repair.

The prison authorities also arranged for asbestos removal in parts of the prison and, while the contractors actually carrying out the work took precautions, his employers did not make provision to ensure he was adequately protected during the times when he came into contact with the asbestos. Nor did they give him any training on the dangers of asbestos in the course of carrying out his normal duties to ensure the security of the prison, which inevitably required him to enter areas where removal work was being carried out. It was therefore while conducting his normal and expected work as a prison officer that he was exposed to the hazardous dust.

After receiving instructions from the client, Sara Hunt, Access Legal partner and asbestos specialist, began to assemble all the medical evidence required for the case. Mesothelioma is a malignant and sadly incurable illness. Once contracted, all medical intervention can hope to achieve is to relieve the symptoms and pain and marginally increase life expectancy. Mesothelioma can be caused by one single asbestos fibre and can take as long as 40-60 years before someone exposed to asbestos will develop the illness. Despite his pessimistic prognosis, the former prison officer insisted that Access Legal pursue the mesothelioma claim so that his wife would be adequately provided for.

Sara Hunt, partner and asbestos specialist commented: “Compensation can never replace someone’s good health but in this case we could at least ensure that his wife would be financially secure for the future which was our client’s main objective.”

On settlement Access Legal’s client said: “A heartfelt thanks from my wife and me for your attentiveness and professionalism. Thank you to you, your staff and colleagues in pursuit of my claim.”

Via EPR Network
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ClaimsHeaven.co.uk Online Game Highlights Issues with Personal Injury Claims Marketing

Entertaining online consumer siteClaimsHeaven.co.uk has added a new free online game that takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the personal injury compensation industry in the UK to their array of claims resources.

If you’ve ever wondered about the personal industry claims market, and whether those adverts promising massive payouts if you have “been injured in an accident at home, at work or on the road” actually encourage a culture where people see being injured as a chance to cash in, then ClaimsHeaven.co.uk has a lot of interesting information and resources that can explain the way this controversial industry works, and help those who need to make genuine compensation claims avoid being ripped off or seduced by the promises of unscrupulous companies.

The latest tool the site offers consumers is a new free online game called Train 2 Claim that “trains” the player to become a better personal injury claimant. It involves the player’s character walking down a typical street with manhole covers and loose paving slabs, and having the ability to move to avoid these potential trip hazards. If you step on them, you’ll fall over, getting more and more injured the more times it happens. When the timer is up, you go and visit a compensation claims company to see how you’ve done. You then get a chance to try again, helping you learn what you need to do to get a bigger payout!

The game, and the supporting information can be found at:

www.claimsheaven.co.uk/games/train2claim.php

As well as being entertaining, it is intended to illustrate the problems in the personal industry claims market in the UK right now, and highlight the methods companies use that could potentially persuade people to make claims. The site is all about supporting legitimate claimants and helping people to understand the pitfalls and scams that exist in the UK claims industry, and aims to present its information through insightful, fun and interesting methods like this game.

Train 2 Claim is free to play through any popular internet browser, and users don’t need to submit any personal details to get access to the game, or any of the other information or games and resources on the site.

Via EPR Network
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Long Island Attorney Steven Cohn Clears Up Misconceptions About “Extortion” — Howard Fensterman Morrell

In lawsuits, when two parties are suing each other, it has been custom and practice for decades across the U.S. that in many instances the opposing attorneys informally exchange the suits with each other before they are formally filed with the clerk of the court.

The purpose of this long-accepted courtesy is to allow the attorneys to talk together and see if any or all parts of the parties’ lawsuits can be settled or resolved before going through lengthy and expensive litigation.

This is a key tenant that enables our civil justice system to move forward efficiently and not become bogged down in endless litigation of lawsuits that otherwise could be settled out of court.

In these instances, typically, the attorney for one or both parties get to the point where they say “it may well be in our mutual financial interests to terminate or resolve all or parts of these suits.”

A recent case in point where this happened involves Scott Morrell of Long Island’s Morrell’s Caterers, one of the largest catering services on Long Island . Importantly, in early 2012, Morrell faced three lawsuits for allegedly illegal and deceitful acts.

Background: Three Lawsuits Against Morrell Kosher Caterer

One was brought by two senior employees of his catering firm. Another was initiated by hundreds of former employees, and a third lawsuit against Morrell was brought by Long Island attorney and Morrell client, Howard Fensterman [Howard Fensterman Morrell]. Morrell is a long-time friend of Fensterman with whom Morrell had participated over the last ten years in separate, outside investments.

Specifically, according to numerous news media reports, including an article in the Long Island Press of February 16, the first lawsuit – - by two senior employees of Morrell’s catering business – - accused Morrell of deliberately bringing non kosher food into what was supposed to be a kosher catering kitchen, thus effectively “contaminating” both the food and kitchen in violation of Jewish law. Examples of the non-kosher food introduced into the kosher kitchen by Morrell include shrimp, lobster, pepperoni, prosciutto, and sausage. Despite this, Morrell represented that the food being served at kosher events his firm was catering was in fact kosher and, as such, customers were charged more money for that.

The second lawsuit, by hundreds of former Morrell employees, accused Morrellscompany of, over a six year period, holding onto the service charges included in the catering contracts that were earmarked for waiters, bus staff and maitre d’s. The employees said that the caterer also demanded that they give back to Scott Morrell, personally, any cash tips they received at events catered by Morrell’s company.

The third lawsuit against Morrell, by attorney Howard Fensterman, alleges breach of contract and fraud by Morrell related to a function Fensterman hosted on May 29, 2010 — an event catered by Morrell’s firm. The suit accuses Morrell of two dishonest actions — Howard Fensterman Morrell. First, the suit accuses Morrell of charging Fensterman apremium for top shelf brands of liquor and, instead, serving lower priced brands.Second, the suit accuses Morrell of encouraging Fensterman to pay, and receiving from Fensterman, an 18 % service charge above the cost of the affair, to assure more attentive service from the Morrell staff and a higher quality affair, without telling Fensterman that he, Morrell, was going to keep the money for himself.

Morrell Tries To “Switch The Topic” — Howard Fensterman Morrell

Howard Fensterman Morrell — In an attempt to deflect public attention from these allegations , Morrell’s response was to try to change the subject, alleging that the presentation of Howard Fensterman’s lawsuit to Morrell’s attorneys, prior to its filing in court, was an attempt to “extort” Morrell.

The facts are that Long Island attorney Steve Cohn, personally hand delivered the lawsuit to the office of Morrell’s attorneys to see if a pre-filing resolution might be achieved, avoiding the monetary and emotional cost of litigation for the parties.

Morrell’s desperate action was to cry “extortion” in the hope of diverting the attention of past clients , rabbis and congregation members from his alleged actions of breach of one of the most sacred duties of a kosher caterer — in essence, serving non-kosher food to unsuspecting clients and their guests. Morrell’s diversionary tactics were also meant to shift the media attention away from his alleged acts and to try to discredit Howard Fensterman’s good name.

Via EPR Network
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