£38,500 obtained for back problems following an injury at work

Louise Harper and Tijana Bencedic, members of the Ashtons Legal personal injury team, have obtained £38,500 for Mr P, whose back gave way while he was lifting paving slabs manually at work.

Ideally he would have been using machinery to help with the lifting, but this had broken so he resorted to manual heavy lifting.  After the incident Mr P developed acute back pain and subsequently underwent surgical treatment on his spine.

Mr P’s back has not returned fully to its pre-injury state and an MRI scan has shown constitutional degenerative changes in his lumbar spine. Although this would anyhow have given him problems undertaking heavy manual work in the future, doctors have determined that the accident has brought his symptoms forward by three or four years.  His back is now weaker than previously and this is irreversible.  Mr P required considerable help with day-to-day living in the period immediate after he suffered the injury and has struggled to become medication-free since.

Tijana comments: “The settlement will not help to reduce Mr P’s back pain, but it will help to ensure that he isn’t out of pocket for the effect his injury has had on his life and we are delighted to have been able to achieve a fair outcome for him.”