Should Mr X make a personal injury claim?

The world of celebrity near-miss accidents and personal injury claims has been fairly quiet this week. No film set mishaps, catwalk catastrophes or car accidents where members of the public suffering whiplash make claims for compensation because they think the actor/actress/film star/politician can well-afford it. Of course sport's injuries hit the headlines with perfunctory regularity, but many of these are due to the nature of the activities involved and, unless a malicious tackle or faulty piece of equipment has been involved, the scope for the involvement of a personal injury solicitor is usually fairly limited.

One would imagine that any film star performing a scene in a dangerous situation such as "rioting crowd scene" would have fairly sizeable insurance policies covering them for occasions where they suffer a broken bone, gashed limb or an unsightly bump on the noggin, and of course, the use of stunt doubles would obviously be the choice of any litigation conscious producer.

And although we consumers of total media reporting, from web-blogs to broadsheets, know well the furore surrounding "compensation culture" and the "something-for-nothing" hysteria that surrounds many compensation payout cases, we usually don't get to hear what compensatory machinations occur when a starlet gets smacked in the face during a fight scene and suffers a black-eye that stops her from being the face of 2009 for the "we can make you look as gorgeous as this" cosmetics campaign.

No, there are some personal injury incidents that don't hit the headlines and it has got me thinking. Do spies make personal injury claims?

Think about it, Mr X checks into a hotel to stakeout Mr Y and as he's unpacking his night vision goggles and stealth listening devices, he trips on a ragged piece of carpet, bumps his head on a dangerously sharp overhanging shelf and then electrocutes himself by catching hold of the wire from a bedside lamp that has been dangerously extended by the connection of wires using nothing more than sticky tape and hope. Mr X will be well-equipped to obtain photographic evidence of the scene for use when the case comes to court, but is it likely to ever get that far?

I guess the short answer is no. Mr X might go to court under a pseudonym, Mr T for example, but one wonders if the true nature of his covert work would mean that his personal injury lawyer would have to be thoroughly clandestine as well and would this hinder the case?

And, did Mr X ever get the required evidence on MR Y or did MI5 have to bring in Mr P to carry on where Mr X left off, hopefully after the hotel put right the glaring accident risks apparent in Mr X's room? Well, actually it all looks pretty good for the hotel involved in the holiday accident. They're going to get off scot free, because ultimately Mr X is a spy after all and he wouldn't let a little thing like concussion or electrocution get in the way of his mission.

No, I guess spies don't make personal injury claims. And next time you're on holiday and find a dodgy balcony hand rail or dangerously uneven footpath, don't be a hero, report it before some other poor spy has to endure a weeks' worth of undercover investigations with a broken head and frizzy hair.

Can I claim?