New app. Campaign for soldiers goes from strength to strength

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1 HM News The quarterly newsletter by Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd May 2012 Welcome to our second edition of HM News, the quarterly newsletter from Hilary Meredith Solicitors. On a personal level, it is 25 years this month since I handled my very first military case and in this issue you will find out about our latest campaign for the Armed Forces, including a special case study of one of our military clients. In addition we are excited to let you know of the technological advances the firm is making, with the launch of a specialist App, a brand new website and our national TV advert that is screening now. The past few months has also seen us expand, welcoming some valuable new members to the team and saying hello to hundreds of new Twitter followers. We hope you find this issue interesting and helpful, and don t forget if you refer a personal injury accident case to the firm you ll receive 200 subject to terms and conditions. New app After developing our own ipads for severely injured clients in 2011, we are delighted to launch our very own Smartphone and ipad App to assist, guide and help with accident claims every step of the way. Our advanced App enables users to record all the information from the accident straight away while it is still fresh in their mind. Claimants can even pinpoint the exact location of their accident on a map as well as giving details of any injuries they sustained, at any time of the day or night. Hilary Meredith said: The App is an easy, convenient and innovative way whereby anyone who suffers an accident can get in touch with us immediately. It s simple, fast and helps us get claims moving, and compensation for our clients, quicker and more efficiently. She added: Relatives and friends of anyone injured in an accident can also use the App to get in touch with us on their behalf. The free App is available on iphone, ipad and ipod Touch via the Apple Store. Campaign for soldiers goes from strength to strength Our campaign for injured soldiers is going from strength to strength as our national petition continues to collect signatures. As a result of IEDs (roadside bombs) in Afghanistan and elsewhere, an unprecedented number of military personnel are receiving horrific injuries including double and, in some cases, triple amputations. The government petition is intended to put the concerns of injured soldiers and their loved ones in front of the key decision makers in parliament. The petition has been set up via the official government website, and if it receives 100,000 signatures will be debated by MPs in Parliament. For further details please visit

2 Expansion across the board As we go from strength to strength as a firm, we are always looking for people who share our dedication and commitment to client care and service. With this in mind we are delighted to welcome Steve Ireland and Richard Owens to Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd. Steve, formerly Head of Personal Injury at Paul Rooney Solicitors, has joined the firm as a partner while Steve Ireland Richard arrives as Solicitor. Steve has over 20 years experience as a specialist Personal Injury lawyer, and was the first solicitor to recover more than 2m in compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority for a severely head-injured client. His main areas of work are high value cases involving spinal and brain injury and foreign accident claims. Commenting on Steve s appointment, Hilary Meredith said: We are absolutely delighted to welcome Steve to the firm. He is well known throughout the personal injury marketplace as an outstanding solicitor with real expertise in higher value claims. Steve said: Catastrophic injuries are life changing and the team at Hilary Meredith share my commitment to this area of work. They understand the immediate aftermath of trauma and provide emotional support and clear thinking at a time of bewilderment and bereavement for lives changed beyond recognition. Richard Owens qualified in 2004 and joins the firm from Delta Legal. He will also work in our expanding complex litigation department. New website We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website. With features such as downloadable checklists and a comprehensive news section, the new website is a one stop shop for anyone looking for help after an accident. We are delighted with our new website our main aim was to make it easy to navigate and most of all, incredibly helpful, said Hilary Meredith. Accident Compensation Claims Recommend Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd and receive 200! Do you know someone who has been involved in an accident? If so, they might be entitled to accident compensation. Refer them to Hilary Meredith Solicitors and receive 200. The cash will be sent to you as soon as we ve accepted the referred personal injury accident case and the third party have admitted liability. It s that easy! Cash incentive cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion.

3 Supporting our soldiers One of our major concerns is the safety and welfare of our armed forces, and we continue to support them however we can. Most recently, the family of a soldier left with severe post traumatic stress disorder sought our advice after he returned from war with severe mental health concerns. As reported in the Sunday Telegraph, Lance Corporal Liam Smith, from Chesterfield, joined the army at just 18 years old as a fit, healthy and professional young man. Six months later, after his first Afghanistan tour, LCpl Smith had fought in one of the largest ambushes suffered by British troops, and lost his best friend and sergeant platoon to the fighting. He returned a changed man. His family noticed the dramatic difference immediately. Their usually outgoing, adventurous son had been replaced with an extremely withdrawn man. Liam developed a drink problem and extremely violent tendancies. Despite this transformation, he was offered no counselling or assistance and the Army deemed him fit and well, sending him back to Helmand on two further tours. It was during his final tour that LCpl Smith suffered a complete psychological breakdown on a patrol base in Afghanistan. Following this he was escorted back to the UK and diagnosed with PTSD, for which he now must take a cocktail of antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs. It is unlikely that he will ever fully recover and his father, Glyn Smith, blames this on the Armed Forces failure to identify and treat the mental health problems that his son was clearly experiencing. It will now take a year for Liam to be medically discharged from the army. Hilary Meredith is representing LCpl Smith and his family. She said: This is a shocking and tragic example of the effects of war and an Army stretched to its limits. The number and frequency of operational tours military personnel are expected to complete are taking its toll. Lessons from the past are still not being implemented at ground level, and the MoD must take action to ensure we are not sitting on a mental health time bomb.

4 Mr M v- MOD Noise Induced Hearing Loss Claim Mr M, the Claimant, enlisted in the Armed Forces on 23rd April When he enlisted, the Claimant was issued with hearing protection in the form of small yellow sponges. The Claimant s personal weapon system was the SLR 7.62 mm accompanied by the GPMG 7.62 mm section medium Machine Gun. Later in the Claimant s career additional hearing protection was issued, the NSN device (otherwise known as Aural Protection Sound devices), however this could not be used effectively with standard issued parachute helmets, which the Claimant was using, on operations and live firing exercises. When the Claimant became a JNCO, he was required to wear a personal radio system known as a 349 Radio but the headpiece could not be used with either of the two of the above forms of hearing protection. The Claimant was continuously exposed to live weapon fire during his military career; however, he always wore the hearing protection that was issued to him, when possible. Sometimes, however, this was not possible because the yellow foam ear defenders were inadequate and the helmets issued to the Parachute Regiment did not cater for wearing the Aural Protection Sound devices. The only way in which the device would function was to take out the inserts out of the inner helmet which the Claimant was specifically ordered not to do, as the helmet could not then be used for parachuting. The Claimant argued that the headsets for the military radios PRC 349, 350, 351/2 could not be worn with ear defence. Later on in the Claimant s career, it became mandatory to wear hearing protection during live firing exercises, however, due to the battlefield noise, it was very difficult for him to hear any instructions, orders or messages passed from or to while wearing the ear protection. This severely hindered the progress of what was going on and any individuals seen to be slowing the progress down were severely reprimanded which would in turn have implications on a soldier s career progression and professionalism. The Claimant was in a catch 22 situation. On one occasion the Claimant was engaged in a contact where 7.62 Machine Guns were fired as well as baton rounds discharged in a small confined area. The Claimant stated that it was not accepted best practice to patrol on operations wearing ear defenders, neither was it policy. These circumstances continually left the Claimant with a ringing tone in his ears which could take days to settle. Subsequently, the Claimant took on roles that required him to work in a covert capacity. He was required to wear covert earpieces which were lodged deep in the ear so could not be seen by any third party. They were worn for long periods, sometimes six hours a day or longer and continuously omitted a noise of static discharge and high pitched radio interference. At his final medical examination following 22 years service, the Claimant was advised by a Medical Officer that he had bi-lateral high tone hearing deficit. This is the first time that the Claimant was informed that his hearing had deteriorated or indeed that he had a noise induced hearing loss. The claimant s claim was first submitted to the MOD on 27th August 2010 via their insurers and throughout the whole process the MOD denied liability. As a result of the Defendant s denial Court Proceedings were issued. The Claimant s main allegation of negligence against the MOD was that they failed to provide him with alternative hearing protection that was compatible with his helmet which was a compulsory part of his personal protective equipment. He also alleged that they failed to prevent him from deploying on operations whilst having knowledge that his hearing had already deteriorated below an accepted deployable standard. The MOD settled the Claimant s claim in September 2011 in the total sum of 12, The Claimant was awarded 7, for pain, suffering and loss of amenity and 5, for his financial losses.

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6 New TV advertising campaign Our new television advertising campaign, featuring Hilary Meredith, has now gone live. As well as seeing it on television, the advertisement is available to download from our website and YouTube. The firm is making giant strides at the moment, said Hilary, Our last TV campaign resulted in a massive expansion in our complex litigation department and we are hoping for similar success with this campaign. Become our 1000th Twitter follower and win a bottle of champagne Hilary Meredith s Twitter account twitter.com/hmhelpforforces now has over 950 followers. We ll be giving away a free bottle to the 1000th. Meredith House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AR Telephone Hilary Meredith Solicitors Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales. SRA ID number: