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£400,000 for Met man who cut his fingers
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter31.03.09
A Met police mechanic was today awarded £400,000 damages after cutting his fingers on a knife in a patrol car.
Alexander Darg became terrified that he had contracted HIV, and although tests proved negative, he has not been able to work since the incident.
The Met had accused Mr Darg of "wanting to be a millionaire" and coming to court in search of "a quick bit of cash" - even backing up its claims that he was exaggerating his disabilities with secretly taken DVD footage.
But a High Court judge, Sir Robert Nelson, today accepted that Mr Darg's suffering was genuine. The Met is also facing a huge legal bill after more than six years of wrangling in the courts.
Mr Darg, 39, who lives in Gravesend, was checking an airbag fault in the police car at Limehouse police station in September 2002 when his fingers slid along the blade of the knife, which was wedged between the two front seats, the High Court heard.
The cuts to two fingers on his left hand have healed, but the accident left him terrified of HIV and triggered chronic regional pain syndrome, affecting many parts of his body.
The court heard that Mr Darg, a father-of-two who worked for a private contractor, had to undergo an HIV test and take precautions against Hepatitis B. His wedding ring had to be cut off and he needed stitches.
Richard Lynagh QC, for Mr Darg, argued that it was as a result of his cut fingers that he developed carpal tunnel syndrome and CRPS after an unsuccessful operation in 2003.
In court, the Met's lawyers accused Mr Darg of "spicing up" his disabilities. They argued he was due compensation only for superficial lacerations. They showed the judge DVDs of Mr Darg walking his children to school, shopping and shooting his air rifle in a competition. They also pointed to his membership of an air-gun club in Kent, where he is a leading shot.
While accepting that Mr Darg's disabilities had, to some extent, been exaggerated, the Judge ruled that neither he, nor his wife, had been "wholly dishonest" and he had never "falsely pretended to have symptoms which do not exist".
The Judge said he was stricken by a "genuine disability", with symptoms which can "flare up at any time".
Observing that his success in shooting did not cast doubt on the genuineness of his suffering, the judge added that, in the circumstances, it was "not surprising that he has felt unable to make any real attempts at finding work".
Mr Darg had originally claimed about £1 million in damages. Although that was cut to £400,000, the Met will have to pay legal costs - the first £100,000 immediately.
Reader views (9)
The only "genuine disability" this guy has got involves his integrity. This ruling now means that any wannabe instant rich guy who scratches himself on anything found in a police car can claim major compensation.
I have been coated with genuine HIV/full blown AIDS infected blood in the course of my job as a nurse, and only once did I feel a need to check to see if I was unlucky. Just because in his ignorance he was 'fearful' it doesn't mean that the public (the source of the Met's cash!) should have to pay him exhorbitant sums of cash for a trivial wound that anyone else in any other setting would ignore.
What a serious waste of breathable air.
- Erinhutsonerinhutsonerinhutson, Wigan
Rogan, Irving..
A nurse you say,well if your treatment is based on your observations of this story then I'll get looked after by someone else,he cut his fingers which led to carpel tunnel,then had an operation which led to complex regional pain which is a disabling condition.
No-one has mentioned why the knife was left in a police car?
- Jared, kent
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (aka Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) is a rare debilitating neuropathic pain condition resulting from minor trauma which affects the central nervous system. My wife developed this condition after a minor accident and it has had a devastating effect on our family. We are not helped by general ignorance and belief that such a minor accident could have such devastating consequences. Before the accident my wife was a normal, healthy hardworking person, but her health has been devastated by this condition which has spread around her body. One aspect of the illness is that after rest you can be ok for a while and appear normal before the pain becomes so debilitating it drives the sufferer insane. If this gentleman is suffering from this illness there is no way he will be able to work and as a young man he will have lost a lifetime of earnings for his family. And, in case you are wondering, compensation isn't an issue for us.
- Anonymous, UK
The only "genuine disability" this guy has got involves his integrity. This ruling now means that any wannabe instant rich guy who scratches himself on anything found in a police car can claim major compensation.
I have been coated with genuine HIV/full blown AIDS infected blood in the course of my job as a nurse, and only once did I feel a need to check to see if I was unlucky. Just because in his ignorance he was 'fearful' it doesn't mean that the public (the source of the Met's cash!) should have to pay him exhorbitant sums of cash for a trivial wound that anyone else in any other setting would ignore.
What a serious waste of breathable air.
- Rogan, Irving
OK ! ! ! And how much does the honourable British Squaddie get when he suffers the loss of a limb serving his country in Iraq or Afghanistan ? ? ?
Disgusting.
- Eoin Mcgreeghan, Derry, NI
This should be appealed and thrown out
- Jeremy E, London
Mr A B London
Sir, how dare you as a Serf, question the actions of your masters.
T H Leeds
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK
What a cowardly man. If he accepted even a 1/4 of that, he'd be able to get therapy for the 'trauma' of cutting himself and not been seen as a scrounging so and so. As for the judge, what a waste of space.
Ab, I totally agree with you. If you're a civilian in any part of law or the armed forces you can take them for huge payouts, yet people who defend the streets both here and aboard under Her Majesty's crest get measly payouts when severely injured.
- S-M Hearmon, London, UK
Where is the fairness in this world when soldiers with appalling injuries incurred fighting for this country are lucky to get a fraction of what Mr Darg has been awarded?
- Ab, London
