To sue or not to sue (From Haringey Independent)

To sue or not to sue

8:30am Friday 8th August 2008

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To sue or not to sue: is that a question we should be asking ourselves?

I don’t know about you but I was shocked to discover how many people successfully manage to sue money out of the council. 633 people over the course of eight years in fact. That may only be 79 claims a year - but it amounts to well over £6 million.

Maybe someone can explain this litigious thinking to me. I’m the sort of person who bangs into things on a regular basis. I often fall off my high shoes. I have been known to bump into the odd tree when I’m skiing down a mountain. But I have never turned around and tried to sue a mystery third person for my own accident. But there are obviously hundreds of people out there who have done that.

Is it a bid to look blameless and therefore erase the humiliation suffered from ending up on your backside in public?

While researching the story a lawyer told me this compensation culture is actually a myth, perpetuated by the media. According to him, around 70 per cent of people who suffer an injury do not claim anything. A worrying statistic - probably for the council more than anyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I am sure there are some very serious cases which may justifiably deserve a payout. For example the case of a staff member being abused or bullied.

However there are lots of cases which appear completely ridiculous. Take the person who was awarded £5.50 for tripping on a defective pavement. There is no way that could have been a serious claim.

Did they, like me, maybe snap a heel off a shoe and claim the money back for a new one?

Then there are the 21 anonymous people who were mysteriously paid £32,000 for stress after being "illegally detained". For me this conjures up images of people being chained inside the civic centre, held at gunpoint. I’m sure it was nothing as dramatic as this, but the council can’t tell us what happened on April 1, 2005, to warrant these payouts. So I think it’s better left to the imagination.

Other claim details we received were a bit too specific. Take this for example: not only did somebody trip over some grass, but it really adds to the claim to know they were following a kitten at the time. Maybe appearing more animal friendly adds 00s to the compensation figure.

And what about the person who sued when they injured themselves on a fence. How did the accident happen? Well, they just couldn’t stop running and slammed into it.

Or the person who choked on fluff from a minibus seat. At the time they were choking did they know it was a little piece of fluff from the seat or did they pay to have it forensically examined afterwards? Puzzling. And actually hilarious.

I’m not one to laugh at someone else’s pain, but I must admit we did have a giggle in the office at some of the details. But come on, we all need a little bit of a laugh from time to time.

So sue me.

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