Drunk WO gets compo
My old sloppy journalist mate Luke McIlveen reports Court rules soldier be compensated for fall
A DRUNK army officer who injured himself falling out of a barracks window should be compensated like any soldier wounded in the line of duty, the High Court ruled yesterday.Luke, the guy is or was a drunk army warrant officer, not officer and before anyone gets up me for being a snob, I’ve never met a Warrant Officer who answers to ‘officer’. Warrant Officer is an esteemed rank and getting it wrong is poor journalism. Having said all that I disagree vehemently with people getting compensation for injury whilst drunk unless the injuring party is someone else. Once people reach adulthood they are reponsible for their own actions and if they injure themselves as a direct action of their own making then that’s their problem. I grew up in the same military society that Jure Jack Roncevich did and do not accept that the drinking mentality is forced on anyone. There were occasions, when I was a sergeant of infantry when the Regimental Sergeant Major locked the bar at a formal dinner and said ‘all stay until I go’. Fair enough, it’s his mess but when I got home at 0400 my wife didn’t quiet see it that way and that’s fair enough as well. I once had a vehicle accident whilst so inflicted and it never occured to me to seek compo – it was my problem…self inflicted as it were and that’s the way it is.
The High Court ruled that just because Mr Roncevich had drunk “a large quantity of beer” in the hours before the accident it did not mean he should be denied compensation. The ruling ends a 20-year legal battle for Mr Roncevich, who now lives in the Northern Territory.Once again I find myself disagreeing with the High Court.
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Disgraceful as that judgment is, the ramifications are appalling since, it will be used as a precedent.
Consider this true incident: a number of Union building labourers, on a site, on strike, they also brought along not a few slabs of beer and drank themsleves blotto. One of them managed to injure himself on the site, not difficult if blotto, he died. He need not have died but his fellow slobs, being blotto, continued drinking even though the frist slob was lying crumpoled up. As they drank, he bled to death.
Now, according to that judge, the company, without any recourse to common law and thus unable to stop the strike, has strikers on thier private property drunker thna skunks and what could happen:
compensation the compnay would have had to pay according to that `judge’.
But, since the slob died,, in view of that lunatical decision, it would be not at all surprising that judge would find the company guilty of manslaughter.
In fact, in Victoria, under Steve Brack’s `OH&S’ `Act’ of last year, the probability that the shareholders and their employeess the exuctives would have been convicted of a very large numbner of criminal oiffences including, manslaughter. yes, that is correct, in Victoria, if someone dies due to an accident, inclusive of, they were careless , the copmpany and executives of the company, or proprietor of a small firm, anyone, in other words who is responsible for any type of business, will be charged and convicted of manslaughter.
The force is worse than, the `accused’ wears the burden of proof, they are automatically guilty of that major criminal offence. There is no defence, if someone dies on your site due to an accident, the firm has committed murder in the second degree according to Steve Bracks and his fellow stalinist thug Hulls.
The rule of common law is being overthrown by politicians and judges. The ramifications of that are obvious. The decision you related Kev, is just one more example of this disgusting descent into savagery.
To clarify something, one has no objections to a good night out on the tiles aty all, enjoy them myself but, as Kev says, own responsibiity. Thus, the R.S.M. who
`..locked the bar at a formal dinner and said ‘all stay until I go’.
is a good, humoured sort. The sort of R.S.M which, if political correctness makes any further inroadswill be replaced by mummers. And, mummers don’t make good R.S.Ms.
Here’s a thought. Drink light beer. As for an RSM trying that trick nowadays. He’d be sacked.
Does this mean we can claim piss money on tax???
If it’s any consolation to you the law has changed in NSW to severely restrict the chances of a drunk plaintiff succeeding in a negligence case.