Being injured in an incident that wasn’t your fault could happen to anyone, anywhere – Even the rich and famous can’t always escape personal injury cases. If you’ve experienced pain and suffering and would like to investigate making a compensation claim, it’s hard to know where to start, what you should do and what’s actually true.
Here we look at some famous cases of Personal Injury and see if any of these celebrities might have had a claim. So take a look through these famous cases and see if you can spot which ones are true and where we may have altered the headlines….
Sergio Aguero – fractured a rib in Amsterdam this year
Factum says surely you all know that one’s true – The Man City star was involved in a car accident in September this year when the taxi he was travelling in struck a pillar. This had the potential to be a huge claim, as a passenger in the vehicle he was always going to be successful in bringing a claim for personal injury against the negligent driver. With weekly earning of £220,000 just think how much the loss of earnings claim could have been!
Felipe Massa – fractures skull whilst cycling
Fictio is pulling your leg – Felipe Massa did fracture his skull, but it was at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix when a spring came loose from the car in front and impacted his helmet. He went on to make a full recovery and retired at the end of the season in 2017 only a few weeks ago.
As the innocent party in this accident, this is definitely something he could have pursued. The only question we would have is, who was to blame for the loose spring?
Ricky Ponting – Australian cricketer injures himself by treading on ball in Ashes Warm Up
Fictio’s at it again – The cricketer in question before the third test in 2005 was actually Glenn McGrath. In the fast bowler’s absence, England would famously go on to win the series for the first time since 1986 after he suffered his unfortunate accident at work.
Richard Hammond – suffers brain injuries in dragster crash on Top Gear
Factum knows this one is definitely true – Richard Hammond famously crashed a dragster when filming for Top Gear back in 2006. After being in a coma for two weeks, he recovered and is still going strong with the Grand Tour.
If this accident was as a result of someone else’s negligence he would have definitely had a claim.
Jeremy Clarkson – causes Personal Injury to crew member in 2015
Factum’s got another one that’s true – An infamous case this time as Oisin Tymon was punched by Jeremy Clarkson during the production of Top Gear. Though it led to the end of Top Gear as it was known, Mr Clarkson’s career continued over at Amazon.
While he managed to brush it off to an extent, Mr Tymon would have been able to make a claim against Mr Clarkson for the injury he suffered.
Dave Grohl – breaks arm during Foo Fighters gig
Ficitio says that’s another red herring – He did suffer a break, but it was his leg. The Foo Fighters frontman seemingly miscalculated a jump on stage at a Gothenburg gig in 2015, falling into a security pit and breaking a leg.
Whilst stages clearly hold a lot of danger for musicians, could this be considered as a slip, trip and fall in an unsafe environment?
Gemma Collins – injures herself falling off stage at Radio One awards
Factum says that’s another true one – This year the reality TV star fell down the stage when a trapdoor opened up behind her. Though there were no apparent injuries at the time, Ms Collins believes that the fall has led to other health issues as a result of delayed shock.
As personal injury can be physical or non-physical, shock as a result of an incident that wasn’t your fault can certainly be a cause for a claim in some cases.
Madonna – injures herself falling down stairs at BRIT awards
Fictio & Factum can’t agree! – The incident happened at the 2015 BRIT awards, when Madonna seemingly tripped on her own dress and tumbled down a flight of stairs on stage.
You may think that as she tripped over her own clothes that she wouldn’t have a claim– But as her clothes would have been picked by a team backstage, could this be an injury at work? It’s certainly an interesting case that would need to be assessed in detail.
Van Gogh – injures himself during work by cutting off his ear
Factum says we all know that’s true – Van Gogh did famously cut his own ear off in 1888. The reasons are still unclear, whether it was a reaction to news of his brother’s upcoming marriage, the results of a row with another artist, or to give a woman a gift of flesh.
One thing is clear though, he definitely wouldn’t have had basis for a personal injury claim as this was all his own fault! Whether or not he could have claimed for medical negligence afterwards is unclear.
Sylvester Stallone – injures hand during rocky filming
Factum says this really happened – Certainly an accident at work, we could have picked Rocky, the Expendables or Rambo as examples of Stallone injuries. But as Stallone insists on punches looking and feeling real and is often also the director, he might have trouble blaming someone else for his injuries.
Tom Cruise – injures himself falling 25ft when performing own stunt
Fictio is playing with you again – Tom Cruise famously performs many of his own stunts, but so does action star Jackie Chan and it’s Jackie who this actually happened to.
Dangers are clearly inherent when performing your own stunts so we say it’s always best to try not to put yourself in potentially dangerous positions!