Spinal cord injury case study
Our client suffered
serious injuries in a road accident in 2002 when he was travelling
as a front seat passenger in a van driven by the defendant.
The accident was wholly
the fault of the defendant, but unfortunately our client was not
wearing a seat belt. Had he done so his injuries would probably
have been avoided. Liability was therefore apportioned by agreement
at 76%:24% in favour of our client.
Our client is tetraplegic
and requires 24 hour care with two carers for much of the time,
particularly for transfers. The defendant raised issues
regarding our client’s duty to obtain benefits available to him
from the Local Authority to supplement his care. As a result of the
Peters case such arguments were not pursued. The
defendants also disputed the need for two carers on a full time
basis and arguments arose in relation to the Working Time
Directive.
The claim was settled at
a round table meeting on terms that the defendant would pay our
client periodical payments of £157,000 per annum and a lump sum of
£500,000. These sums were in addition to interim payments totalling
£878,000 (which had enabled to claimant to purchase a specially
adapted property during the course of the claim).