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Some Odd and Bizarre Personal Injury Claims from Around the World

Posted in: Personal Injury 

This week, I’ll be taking a look at four bizarre yet true personal injury cases from around the world. These cases demonstrate how diverse this area of law can be. I also hope that reading these will encourage you to seek legal help if you have had an injury through no fault of your own.

If you have been injured or hurt then please call us today or contact us via our homepage specialising in Sunderland personal injury.

Case 1: Killer whale on the prowl 

This recent case reminds me of the extreme take on Sea World we see in the (spoiler alert) new Jurassic World movie. It is bizarre yet sadly true. In 1999, 27–year-old Daniel Dukes wanted to get up close and personal with whales.

However, instead of arranging a meet and greet with the park staff or going out to see them in their natural habitat, this man decided to sneak into a Sea World park after closing time and go into the whale’s enclosure.

Unfortunately, the man died. His parents sued Sea World on the grounds that killer whales were portrayed as family friendly and not as killers. They argued that by selling stuffed toy whales, these animals could be considered as family friendly.

In a local newspaper at the time, Sea World argued that the man died of hypothermia rather than as a direct result of coming into contact with the killer whale. This is not the first time that this particular whale has been linked to deaths in the park. The man’s parents later dropped the lawsuit.

Case 2: Clothes shopping can be painful! 

Shops have different ways of putting security tags on items. A common method is to use a security tagger, made up of a grey plastic block and a large tack that looks like a giant and very sharp pin. This is what I think was used in this case, as sometimes the pins can come loose when you are attaching the two parts to the item of clothing.

In Stockport, a shopper won £1,750 in compensation when she stepped on a pin that had come loose whilst she was trying on clothes in the changing room. My suggestion is to check your tags and labels before trying things on to avoid nasty accidents!

Case 3: The exploding loo 

A woman in Philadelphia, USA received a nasty shock when she spent a penny! On 30th of October, 2007, Nikita Fulton was using the facilities when “excess water pressure caused a toilet to explode causing plaintiff to be thrown from the bathroom stall”.

The incident was no laughing matter to the woman involved, who sustained injuries to the lumbar region of her back and sciatica. There has been no reported outcome of this case yet.

Case 4: The pitfalls of driving in an open top car 

You may expect the odd couple of insects in your eye if you have the luxury of driving an open top car on a hot summer’s day. You probably wouldn’t expect what happened to an anonymous claimant in Kent! A driver in an open top car was stationary in a traffic jam on such a hot summer’s day. Unfortunately for him, he was stuck near a building site. A cement mixer vehicle pulled out in front of him and spilled cement in the process over his lovely car.

The damage was so bad that the car was written off – happily, the man received £4,000 in compensation, which could go towards a suitable replacement.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this irreverent look at personal injury cases. I particularly liked Case 4, as I certainly wouldn’t expect that when I’m driving! Luckily I don’t have an open top car myself. There are lots of websites and online articles relating to Case 1 if you wanted to look at corporate practices with animals in captivity more closely, which I feel is an important issue aside from my passion for personal injury law.

Make sure if you are unfortunate enough to have an accident to document and report the accident as soon as possible. This might help you to avoid court in a financial settlement if you would find being in the courtroom a daunting experience.



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