Compo can be a pain in the butt.

 

A recent claim for compensation has highlighted the compo culture that has crept into Ireland. There was a time when we looked towards our American cousins in dismay as they seemed to be constantly suing each other. We cocked a snoot and tut tutted and counted ourselves lucky. How times have changed

A Dublin housewife, who has previously climbed in the Himalayas and has made her way to the base camp on Mount Everest, has sued the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service for €40,000 following a fall on the Wicklow Way. The National Parks and Wildlife Service said that it’s the first time they’ve been sued for negligence after a walker’s fall.

The woman said that as the result of a cut to her right knee she can no longer climb or run marathons. She said that she had to receive seven stitches in a gash to her knee after falling in the Wicklow Mountains National Park. Her foot had apparently snagged in a hole in an old railway sleeper.

There seems to be no doubt that the unfortunate woman cut her leg but you would imagine that an experienced hill walker would be aware that what she was doing was considered to be a sporting pursuit that had certain risks attached to it. It’s also hard to see how a cut to the knee could merit a payment of such magnitude.

If I decide to take up parachute jumping as a hobby then I would have to assume that there are certain risks that go with that activity. If I’m daft enough to chuck myself out of an airplane at ten thousand feet then I can hardly start whinging if I land awkwardly and hurt myself. I shouldn’t be able to go to the ‘Jumping Out Of Planes Association of Ireland’ and sue them because I got a bruise on my butt after landing badly.

Now, if it was a case that the Park Ranger in Wicklow had laid a trap for bears on the main pathway and didn’t put up a warning sign and that resulted in someone losing a leg, then you might be inclined to think, well, that was a bit careless so let’s give them some compo to get a replacement limb.

In the case of this lady, her leg was not amputated and she is by all accounts the same person she was before the mishap. In any event, she considers that she has suffered and it’s going to take €40,000 to make her feel better again.

It seems that there have been hundreds of falls over the years by walkers in the various national parks and many have resulted in broken bones.  But this is the first time that the Service has been sued for negligence and breach of duty and it could have serious repercussions for the future of hillwalking.

Compensation claims come in all shapes and sizes. In the U.K., the Ministry of Justice has said litigation involving prison inmates has reached £29 million. They have ordered an independent audit to make sure they are not being taken for a ride.

In one case, a convicted terrorist tried to claim more than £1,200 for an invasion of his privacy. He is serving a life sentence for a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners with liquid bombs and he sued for compensation. He alleged that two boxes containing his personal possessions, including legal mail, were opened, searched and removed. His case was dismissed, but like many such claims, the Ministry of Justice had to invest thousands of pounds mounting a defence.

Another case involved a convicted three-time killer who successfully sued for compensation. This guy is serving life for the murder of three fellow drug dealers in Hertfordshire in 2008. He was awarded £1,000 after a judge ruled that a guard squirted shampoo on his CDs during a prison transfer. He was also awarded more than £800 after items including his nose hair clippers were damaged in jail.

A burglar attempted to claim £6,000 after banging his head while play-fighting with another prisoner. He tried to claim he had slipped on water caused by a leak at HMP Manchester.

The Belfast Telegraph reported that one inmate lodged a compensation claim for sunburn after he climbed on to a roof in Maghaberry Prison on a hot day to stage a protest. We don’t know if the claim was successful as the Prison Service said that to release details of specific claims would breach human rights under the Data Protection Act. No doubt there would be another compo claim if that happened.

A few years ago a prisoner in Cork Prison sued the state after falling from the roof of a building within the prison grounds. The court ruled that he shouldn’t have been able to climb up there in the first place and so it wasn’t his fault and he was successful in his claim.

He was an adult and he was a prisoner. I would think that it’s fair to assume that the guy knew that he wasn’t supposed to go up on the roof. As a prisoner I’m certain that he was well aware of where it was he could and couldn’t go. But he still chose to go up on the roof and he promptly did a Humpty Dumpty job and he got rewarded for his stupidity.

Compensation isn’t free money. It’s paid for by us all one way or another. While I have no difficulty in compensating genuine hardship cases, I do have a huge problem with money grabbing opportunists.

If you don’t like the idea of getting a scratch on your knee then stay indoors and take up knitting. Alternatively, stick to watching Countdown on the telly and leave the outdoor stuff to Bear Grylls.