French ambulance chasers

[frexpt]

The father of a young friend suffered an industrial accident last year and will never work again.  To me there is a clear case of negligence by the employer and significant health and safety issues involved.

The chap concerned has not been offered any compensation by the employer, who paid his salary for 3 months and that was that.  The family now relies on a small monthly payout from an insurance company, which has nothing to do with the employer.

For some reason, he is reluctant to take the matter further, but I believe that has much to do with not having a decent command of French and a natural shyness.

Although he has been urged to see an advocat and that may or not happen, I was wondering whether there were any personal injury claim companies in France, as we see readily advertised in the UK?

[andyh4]

The French equivalent of the civil legal system works very differently to the UK.

Cases frequently take many years to reach a conclusion, payouts tend to be small an legal costs are rarely covered. So not conclusive to the ambulance chasers of the world. Many see that as very positive - myself included, even though I was injured in a supermarket by a bottle that broke in my hands and received nothing.

This however of course is not good news for your friend.

It might be worthwhile to check if his household insurance covers legal protection.

[frexpt]

Thanks for the response.  What you say does go a long way to explaining the rather cavalier approach to health & safety that we see in France.

[idun]

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F14840.xhtml

Inspection de Travail?

Own house insurance, but that may be too late.

[NormanH]

The process is to go the French route via the CPAM and Medical examination

1) He needs to have his injuries/handicap assessed so the CPAM can decide his level of incapacity.

Si vous êtes victime d’un accident du travail, vous pouvez conserver des

séquelles et souffrir d’une diminution durable de vos capacités

physiques ou mentales. Dans ce cas, la caisse primaire d’assurance

maladie (CPAM) détermine un taux d’incapacité permanente (IPP) qui vous

permet

de percevoir une indemnisation sous forme d’indemnité en capital ou

de rente viagère.

This can then lead to various allocations either a capital sum  or an invalidity pension

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F14840.xhtml#N10139

Similarly any fault on the part of the employer can lead to compensation

Votre accident peut être la conséquence d'une faute dite

inexcusable

de votre employeur. Dans ce cas, si la faute inexcusable est reconnue, elle vous permet d'obtenir :

• une majoration de votre d'incapacité permanente,  (increase)

• la réparation intégrale des préjudices subis et non indemnisés par la

  rente (souffrances physiques et morales, préjudices esthétiques et
  d'agrément, préjudices résultant de la perte ou de la diminution de vos
  possibilités de promotion professionnelle)  (An additional payment to cover damages not covered by the pension)

La faute inexcusable est reconnue lorsqu'il est établi que

l'employeur avait ou aurait dû avoir conscience du danger auquel vous

étiez exposé le salarié et qu'il n'a pas pris les mesures nécessaires

pour vous en préserver. C'est à vous de prouver la faute inexcusable de

votre employeur.

La demande d’indemnisation et de réparation des préjudices doit être faite auprès de la CPAM.

All this is available from idun's useful link

It is worth seeing if he has a 'protection juridique' as part of house insurance for example.  (Most have this) I have a separate one which will give me advice and help on a range of problems, and will employ an avocat if necessary to help