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Stephen Rizzotti was buried under half a ton of rubble when the 

contents of a hoist basket were released onto him at work. Before 

his injuries the father-of-three was independent, fit and active. He 

took pride in never having had a sick note. He is now paraplegic 

and severely disabled.  He is confined to a wheelchair, and cannot 

control his bowels. He is in permanent pain and is often confined 

to his bed as a result.  

His life, and the lives of his wife and children, has changed 

dramatically. Nothing now is spontaneous. Things most of us take 

for granted, such as going out for a meal, are major operations.  

Stephen says the general damages to compensate him for 

his pain and suffering should, in his eyes, also be for the four 

people closest to him.  It should be to try to compensate his two 

daughters in some way for the fact that he will never be able to 

walk them down the aisle; to compensate his daughter Emily for 

the fact that he cannot always go and support her when she plays 

in a football match, which he describes as “heartbreaking”; to 

compensate his son for not being able to learn to play golf from 

his father, but having someone else to help him instead; and for 

his wife, Jayne, who gave up her career to spend time with him. 

“If Jayne didn’t spend time with me,” he said, “I couldn’t stand it.  

How much of a price can you put on all that?”

Catastrophic 

workplace injury

Richard taught ju-jitsu for 10 years before a van ran into the back of 

his car two years ago. He still teaches, but needed six weeks away 

from the sport, and still has to be careful as some movements can 

be very painful.

Much of Richard’s compensation was for his pain and suffering. “If 

someone asked me if I would like the £4,000 or my old neck back I’d 

have my neck,” he said.

The 53-year-old still cannot move his head fully to the left or the 

right, which is particularly debilitating when he is practising ju-jitsu 

and when he is driving. He often finds he has to use his whole body 

to move side-to-side, which has an obvious impact on his much-

loved sporting pastimes. 

“I can still teach, but I have to be more careful and also when I am 

driving. I was so used to just moving around how I wanted before, 

but now the injury is always there. 

“Physiotherapy helped but it is now just one of those things and you 

have to get on with it. But I don’t expect it will ever go away, it will 

stay with me”. 

Whiplash injury