night club compensation

saraphina

On friday evening whilst in a bar/club I sustained a whiplash injury. The incident happened whilst a bouncer was aggressively removing somebody from the premises. The bouncer unnecessarily barged through the crowd pushing people out of the way. ( the guy being evicted was not resisting). The first I knew of it was somebody saying the bouncers behaviour was unnecessary. I was at the back of a line of people. I was pushed with get force and staggered backwards. As I didnt have anybody behind me to stop my staggering, I continued to go backwards until i hit the wall. I didnt feel any discomfort till the following morning.
Should I contact the club to cover the fees for the osteopath sessions that I want to undertake and also any time I need to take off work as I do not get sick pay.

Im not into the compensation culture generally, but feel my out of pocket expenses should be met.

What do others think?

Tondella

Why not speak to your GP first about appropriate treatment for the symptoms you have experienced, you might find that he/she can recommend something cheaper and as/more effective that will get you back to work asap.

I did a study of people who sustained whiplash injury in car accidents and even for relatively straightforward cases (i.e. a rear shunt with clear blame) they were pursuing compensation for over a year. for something more complex like this you could be in and out of court for ages.

Dead_Eye_Jones

soz, sounds exactly like compensation culture to me. Sht happens.

scootw1

But at the end of the day, this s**t shouldnt have happened. the bouncer should have been more careful. I say go for it

piglet6

Not wishing to put a downer on your idea, but I suspect they will fight tooth and nail. My initial questions (if I were the club) would be:

How are you going to prove you were in the club at the time, and involved in the incident? Furthermore, if you didn't feel discomfort until the next morning, how can you be sure that it links to the incident (and not just sleeping at a funny angle, falling over on the way home once you had left the club, etc, etc...?!)?

How can you blame the bouncer, when he obviously didn't come into contact with you at all (if you were at the back of a line of people, it sounds like it was a domino effect, so strictly speaking, you should blame the person who touched you directly, they can then claim damages from the person in front of them, etc, etc, and only the first person who was pushed by the bouncer can claim against the club for the actions of the club employee...)?

Of course, if you or any of the line of people who were pushed had consumed alcohol, things get even harder to claim because they will be able to claim that you were unsteady on your feet and fell over for that reason...

Sorry - I realise that this isn't what you want to hear, but I'm just trying to look at it from the club's point of view...because they will certainly fight against admitting responsibility. Apart from anything else, if they give in to you this week, they will have a flood of claims next week, and if they admit it once, they really are shooting themselves in the foot against disputing any further claims in future. :rolleyes:

On a brighter note, I hope you are feeling better soon.

Piglet

Broken_hearted

How drunk were you as they may claim you fell over because you were too drunk.

scootw1

If the guy knew anyone else in the club, why not get a few people together to act as witnesses. if six or seven people saw what happened and are willing to testify on what they saw, surely the bouncer could not argue against that?

too often, nightclubs dont mind taking your money for you to go in but then deny everything once you are in. All their responsibilities go out of the window.

mexicanwaver

Be wary about going to the GP for a possible whiplash injury. Maybe give it a couple of days to settle down?

About 5 years ago I was in a car crash (as a passenger) and I felt a slight tingle down my back for a couple of days afterwards. I went to the GP to get it checked over, as I wanted the peace of mind. There was no identifiable problem, and I've had no trouble with it since.

However, it came back to haunt me when I was applying for income protection insurance last year. Every company who gave me a quote insisted on having a spinal injury clause.......so if I EVER suffer ANY spinal injury they will not pay out. This was based on the fact that I had simply been to the GP for a check-up after that one car crash.......even though I'd had no further complications.

There is no way around it either. Once it's on your medical records, the insurance company will either find it at the start (when you apply for a policy) or they will find it later on (if you make a claim) and try to use it as an excuse not to pay out.

mrcow

saraphina wrote:

Im not into the compensation culture generally, but feel my out of pocket expenses should be met.

Are you not? It doesn't sound like it!

How long have you been self diagnosing yourself for? Have you seen a doctor yet? and how much time are you intending to take off work for a stiff neck?

file_wizzard

piglet6 wrote:

Not wishing to put a downer on your idea, but I suspect they will fight tooth and nail. My initial questions (if I were the club) would be:

How are you going to prove you were in the club at the time, and involved in the incident? Furthermore, if you didn't feel discomfort until the next morning, how can you be sure that it links to the incident (and not just sleeping at a funny angle, falling over on the way home once you had left the club, etc, etc...?!)?

Most Clubs now have VERY good CCTV coverage, you can lawfully obatain any images that contain yourself under S.7 of the DPA

piglet6 wrote:

How can you blame the bouncer, when he obviously didn't come into contact with you at all (if you were at the back of a line of people, it sounds like it was a domino effect, so strictly speaking, you should blame the person who touched you directly, they can then claim damages from the person in front of them, etc, etc, and only the first person who was pushed by the bouncer can claim against the club for the actions of the club employee...)?

All door staff are now lawfully required to be SIA registered, and thus they are obliged to conduct themselves in a lawful, and appropriate manner, if the individual in question was using excessive force, or indeed acting without due care and attention to by-standers then he has committed an offence, additionally even if there was no direct contact then any injury could be reasonably attributed to a consequential action, and as such could pontenatly be held to be a common assult.


however and not withstanding the above ( which is all supposition) you should consider how likely a prosecution actually is, and perhaps just put it down to experience.

Idiophreak

Dead_Eye_Jones wrote:

soz, sounds exactly like compensation culture to me. Sht happens.

Have to agree here.

I used to get knocked over in clubs the whole time (I tried to sue a whole moshpit once, but the case went nowhere ). It happens.

If I don't want to get knocked over, I'll go to a nice quiet pub, it's not rocket science.