Injured yes, compensated no
Injured yes, compensated no
A labourer engulfed by an explosion during slum clearance work in Liverpool has left the Appeal Court empty-handed after failing for the second time to secure a damages payout from his former employers. James William Brown, 41, was part of a gang clearing derelict council houses on 6 November 2003, when an exploding object in a small fire lit on the site left him with horrific injuries to his face and eyes. He was all but blinded in one eye, had to undergo skin graft surgery and suffered permanent scarring. He sued his then employers, Grosvenor Building Contractors Ltd, but his claim was rejected by a judge at Liverpool County Court in May last year. This week Appeal Court judges said they exonerated the company from all blame for Mr Brown's accident, ruling that the incident had not been 'reasonably foreseeable'. Lady Justice Smith dismissed the appeal, saying: 'Mr Brown, who deserves our utmost sympathy, simply doesn't have a viable legal argument.' Reports last year from the TUC (Risks 217) and Hazards magazine (Risks 207) revealed over 90 per cent of those injured at work received no compensation.
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