Circumstances of incident
On the day of the incident, Leslie was drinking in a pub. An argument broke out and although Leslie didn’t start the argument, one of the bouncers threw him out of the pub. As a result of being thrown, Leslie suffered a serious head injury.
Claim against the bouncer/Licensee of the pub
Leslie could not raise a claim against the Bouncer, as the bouncer was not in a financial position to pay compensation. We therefore intimated a claim against the Licensee as his employer. It turned out the Licensee had no insurance and no assets and so wasn’t worth suing either.
Claim to the CICA
We proceeded to claim for criminal injuries compensation from the CICA. To qualify for compensation Leslie had to prove to the CICA he had been injured by a crime of violence. The CICA rejected Leslie’s application on the basis the bouncer had been legally entitled to throw Leslie out of the pub and so there wasn’t any assault which could be counted as a crime of violence.
How we helped Leslie
In throwing Leslie out of the pub, the bouncer had put him in a neck lock. This cut off the oxygen to Leslie’s brain. He lost consciousness. The bouncer then dropped Leslie causing his head to strike the ground. Leslie suffered a serious head injury as a result. We instructed a report from an expert in physical restraint which confirmed that both the neck lock and dropping Leslie to the ground were dangerous and likely to result in serious injury. We appealed the refusal of Leslie’s application. At appeal we were able to persuade the CICA that the bouncer had acted recklessly and so there was a crime of violence even if the bouncer had the right to put Leslie out of the pub. We then instructed various medical reports. The CICA then made Leslie an award, the value of which today is approximately £150,000.
