Personal injury compensation news

Aussie Rules players wins six-year battle

An Aussie Rules player is celebrating after a six-year personal injury compensation battle finally came to an end this week.

31-year-old Adrian Whitehead is believed to have been offered a six-figure sum by former club Carlton, less than two weeks before his compensation claim was due to hit the Australian courts in December.

The former player has been fighting for damages since he retired because of a severely damaged foot and blames his inability to continue playing in the Australian Football League on a painkilling injection he was given before a game in 1997.

He claims he was not told that playing on a foot heavily numbed was likely to cause him further injury and he subsequently suffered nerve damage, ruptured tendons and bone fractures. He never fully recovered from the personal injuries and was forced to retire from the sport in 1999.

Whitehead has made several attempts at gaining personal injury compensation from Carlton over the past years and next month's court hearing was due to see an appeal by the former player against an earlier decision denying him damages.

The exact figure offered by Carlton has not yet been publicly disclosed.

For more information about Australian Rules football, go to www.afl.com.au.