Alex McKinnon possibly Quadriplegic - Mclean guilty of dangerous throw - 7 weeks

[Canard]

Entitled to do it but not the smartest move IMO. He may have "only" gotten 1.1 mil so far but you would expect ongoing support through fundraisers, donations etc would have been forthcoming his entire life not to mention any work and life experiences he may get through employment with the NRL.

He may receive none of this if he takes legal action.

And fwiw you only have to read the real time game thread to see quite a few posters thought he contributed to the injury ala Inglis.

Your honour, I table the following posts from LU posters Oikee, Poor Boy Blues and Bunniesman.

"Case Dismissed!"

 

[Noa]

Your honour, I table the following posts from LU posters Oikee, Poor Boy Blues and Bunniesman.

"Case Dismissed!"

Maybe if Lionel Hutz is representing.

Seriously though, unless the defence decided to not play hard-ball, people are delusional if they think it won't get mentioned.


The act that is, not posts on here lol.

 

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by cleary89
On bsb this morning they said some bloke at wests broke his neck in the late 70's. They raised 30k for him and put it in a trust fund so he didnt get it as a lump sum. He's still withdrawing it today.

1.1m in a trust fund would probably last a lifetime. Combined with a job for life and the knights/nrl insurance covering his rehab I cant imagine he would ever struggle with money.

If he wants to sue then fair enough. He is entitled to. But he wont be getting any more of my money in this years rise for alex round and im sure most would hold a similar opinion.


A million dollars in trust would currently earn around about $33,000 a year in interest.

$30,000 in trust would earn approx $900 a year in interest
The guy at Wests may well be withdrawing the interest still, but he sure as shit ain't living off the proceeds unless he used the $30,000 to purchase a house and shares and diversify his asset base. I hope to hell he did.


The NRL's biggest offering was the "job for life" - a move likely designed to ward off any future legal settlement.

If a person sues they can sue for the costs associated from the accident - ie modified house, car, etc. But they can also sue for loss of future earnings.

If sued, the NRL would attempt to mitigate the size of the payout by first arguing how long his career would most likely have been coupled with the fact they've offered him income for the future

Another avenue Alex would need to pursue would be emotional distress. Usually this needs to culminate in evidence that he cannot function as the stress has left him unable to cope.

Currently he is at University studying and seems emotionally balanced - all things considered.

I wish Alex all the best and I will not feel bad towards him if he does sue the NRL. He has to do what is right for him and his family, not the NRL. I'd do the same if I were him and the same avenue was open to me.

I just don't think the payout would be as huge as the $10 million quoted by a legal "specialist" in the SMH today due to the actions and offers previously in place from the NRL coupled with the way Alex himself has approached life after the accident.

 

[betcats]

McKinnon has convinced the NRL to change the rise for alex round to something that benefits anyone seriously injured playing league. It will be the men of league heritage round or something.

Story in the DT this morning cant post a link sorry.

 

[Canard]

McKinnon has convinced the NRL to change the rise for alex round to something that benefits anyone seriously injured playing league. It will be the men of league heritage round or something.

Story in the DT this morning cant post a link sorry.

Shows how much of a champion bloke the guy is.

And how bigger arseholes some others are.

 

[ek999]

McKinnon has convinced the NRL to change the rise for alex round to something that benefits anyone seriously injured playing league. It will be the men of league heritage round or something.

Story in the DT this morning cant post a link sorry.

Great news.

But I think it would be better to keep it as the Rise for Alex Round even if he doesn't actually receive anything from it. No offence to Men of League who do a great job but I think Rise for Alex would resonate with the public more

 

[gUt]

He should sue Jason Ryles

 

[Tommy Smith]

He should sue Jason Ryles

That's the first time I've laughed at a Ryles joke in a while

It'd be nice if the NRL could retrospectively give Alex a full insurance pay out. I have no idea how much that would be, but he deserves it. The same can be said of Simon Dwyer and others.

The only issue is whether or not that would equate to an admittance of guilt by the NRL; thus opening a can of worms.

But there's no doubt the NRL erred significantly in not having a detailed insurance scheme in place years ago. McKinnon and everyone else that's suffered serious career ending injuries should be paid out accordingly.

 

[TimmyB]

Crackers was partially helped by people already taking guilty pleas at an earlier level and then partially hindered by his own income out of football.
It is a weird situation that one, of course Crackers then got in shit for clearing a whole heap of land he shouldn't have.

Yeah after reading the case and noting the comments by Hulme re: the guilty pleas, if that was the reason McLean pleaded not guilty at the judiciary - I'm sure Melbourne didn't want to be stung twice.

 

[Pierced Soul]

Rightfully so, the NRL continually allows these tackles. He should sue and he should get a good payout. The NRL failed in their duty of care not sure how that can be questioned. They refused to take measures on these tackles well before Alex' incident.

the NRL penalises and suspends players for foul play. unless the refs can see into the future and taser players about do do dodgy tackles i dont see how the nrl is at fault. tripping isnt in the rules yet josh reynolds keeps doing it. he's been suspended, the refs cant predict when the dickhead will ahve a brain explosion

I tried to sue Jason Smith but my solicitor told me he'd never heard of him.

:lol:

Surely modern NRL contracts would demand that a player abstains from suing anyone in the case of a career ending injury, otherwise the game would never have survived this long on good will alone from players.

However, he has engaged in an activity that has caused his type of injury before, has had careers ended, still has dangerous tackles etc.

He signed contracts where he agreed to play this game which in my mind, would mean he has little hope of getting a massive apyout, especially after the donations and job that the NRL has provided him immediately after the injury.
.

not so sure about contracts, but when your job involved running hard at/through/past players trying to tackle you there's an inherent risk, not just through foul play but other injuries ACL's torn ligaments, breaks. it's almost i think taken for granted that you will get injured and thats the risk you take with contact sport. Most of us have never seen such a severe injury to come out of league, and hopefully it'll never happen again

Those people not wanting a disabled person to have every opportunity are pretty heartless.

i dont think anyone doesnt want him looked after, it's more that most of us dont like the idea of anyone "suing" an organisation/other people. i'd love there to be some sort of agreement from the NRL or whoever which has in writing we'll contribute x amount a year, we'll engage specialists to provide medical treatment whenever you need it, we'll arrange for houses/cars/ etc to be fixed up to accommodate your injury and disability.

Alex has a lot of good will given to him from the Knights, NRL and the Storm. Surely it doesn't have to come to this. His decision 100% and without ever being in his situation I can't and won't judge on a personal level but on a PR level I don't know if this is the best move.

if he (i.e. the lawyers) decide to sue i think he'll lose a lot of good will. i do hope thta an agreement can be reached to look after him without it needing to be McKinnon vs the NRL

just a serious question on loss of earnings. given the nature of sport, wouldnt it be difficult to assess what possible losses there might have been? we've all seen players who looked great, went shit and subsequently had their careers die (ben barba watch this space). we've also seen the impact injuries have played in forcing people to retire (tony caine). we've seen players you'd swear would be solid rep players fizzle out and never achieve what they were earmarked for (owen craigie). so how would you evaluate future earnings?

Alex (in my opinion) would have eventually made rep teams (to what level i dont know), when? (again might have been this year, might not have got a shot till he was 28). but if this nasty injury hadnt occured, there may still have been factors which impacted on his overall footballing ability.

 

[muzby]

posted this elsewhere, throwing my 2c into the ring here..

but overall i feel anyone who is critical of him needs to walk (wheel) a mile in his shoes first..

he's going to need a lot of financial support to live a normal life - and the $1.1m + his NRL job may seem like a lot, but whatever he needs for standard living items like housing or transport will need customisation, and that comes at a cost.. not to mention carers, medical bills etc..

things we take for granted - being able to just go out and buy a car that suits us, to live in a top storey apartment (or a multi level house) or even to just get into a taxi when we need to - he won't be able to do any of these things.

lets say he invests the $1.1 into a house - and by the time he gets an adequate house that is kitted out for him there isn't much change left out of that.. and what if, like most people, he wants to move in 5-10 years? similar issue again..

he's still in his early 20's.. so much more of his life to live.. so much more in front of him that is going to cost more than it costs you and i.. simply because whatever he needs is not likely to be 'standard'..

this is before we even take into account loss of future earnings...

and pretty sure it's not about a greed thing... i'm sure if you ask him if he'd prefer $5m or to be able to be fit & healthy, i guarantee which one he'd choose..

i think about things like being able to walk along a beach, with my daughter on my shoulders, feeling the sand between my toes as i do this.. something he is unlikely to be able to do in his lifetime..

 

[franklin2323]

None of us here have signed an NRL contract but surely somewhere says you do so at your own risk?

Sue the NRL don't get your job for life. Simple He's been compensated for the terrible accident already

 

[Canard]

None of us here have signed an NRL contract but surely somewhere says you do so at your own risk?

No way in Australia would you be able to sign a contract that said, if you become disabled, well then tough shit.

Would a underground miner? Bank Teller? Police?

None of us here have signed an NRL contract but surely somewhere says you do so at your own risk?

Yeh you've been compensated, stop whinging and suck it up!

 

[juro]

McKinnon has convinced the NRL to change the rise for alex round to something that benefits anyone seriously injured playing league. It will be the men of league heritage round or something.

Story in the DT this morning cant post a link sorry.

That's what many people were calling for at the time of Rise for Alex last year. Would have got a lot more support if they did it.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Alex should be entitled do what he wants without criticism/pressure from the public.

I have a mate who had a work place accident and ended up in a wheel chair ( injury was not as bad as Alex's) and shit he has to live with and go through is unbelievable - massive medical bills etc. It aren't fun. Plus not only do they have to deal with their current life/situation, later on in life wheel bound people also face many other medical issues normal people don't ( as my mate said, specialists keep on telling him things he will face in old age)

 

[betcats]

Well said Muzby. Whether you think he should sue or not people need to stop and think about what this guy has lost before they start criticising him.

In his situation maybe he can get by with charity and handouts by why should he be content with that? I would want the best possible chance at walking again and in this world that costs.

Whether the NRL should be liable or not is another debate but I would never hold it against the kid if he sued them.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Also Alex may have been given a job for life - but considering his condition that isn't so simple. It's not like he can get in a car and drive to work (he has minimal use of his arms currently).

There are also so many costs that you just don't think of, for example IVF which isn't cheap. Just one on many

 

[Tommy Smith]

Just out of curiosity, people are talking about medical expenses and I was wondering what is covered by Medicare/government?

Talk of it costing him 150k or so a year on carers etc... surely the government pays for that? If not then that is ridiculous. I don't see how people in wheelchairs should be expected to afford 150k per year in care costs.

 

[El Diablo]

Just out of curiosity, people are talking about medical expenses and I was wondering what is covered by Medicare/government?

Talk of it costing him 150k or so a year on carers etc... surely the government pays for that? If not then that is ridiculous. I don't see how people in wheelchairs should be expected to afford 150k per year in care costs.

only those who are compensated pay

 

[betcats]

Just out of curiosity, people are talking about medical expenses and I was wondering what is covered by Medicare/government?

Talk of it costing him 150k or so a year on carers etc... surely the government pays for that? If not then that is ridiculous. I don't see how people in wheelchairs should be expected to afford 150k per year in care costs.

I don't know what is covered but im sure a lot of the treatments Alex wants to undertake to improve his chances at walking are not covered.