And the award for fastest ambulance chaser goes to … the UK Personal Injury Awards held at Café Royal kicked up a bit of a storm in London. An opportunity for claimants’ lawyers, representing accident victims, and defendants’ lawyers, acting for insurance companies to come together to celebrate the achievements of the sector. It didn’t quite work out like that.

Journalist Joshua Rozenberg attempted to defend David Pugh, a partner in Halliwells who was in the running for the Defendant Lawyer of the Year award for his work in the Rothwell case. The controversial case eventually resulted in a House of Lords ruling that pleural plaques – scars on the linings of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos – did not constitute an injury for which compensation could be paid.

This type of award ceremony hasn’t even been replicated by the lawsuit-happy americans. Has the UK sunk lower?

Recently, Tesco refused to help the elderly and the disabled on two occasions blaming the compensation culture. Just a few months before, a Tesco employee refused to ist a disabled motorist pump air into her tyres.

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