Substantial brain injury compensation obtained for client involved in a serious road traffic accident

Our client was travelling as a passenger in a car driven by his friend when he was involved in a serious road traffic accident. Our client was not wearing a seatbelt. The driver was unlicensed and was a drug user.

Our client suffered a serious head injury in the accident. As a result of his injury, he lacked the capacity to deal with matters on his own behalf. This meant the claim required additional legal arrangements to protect his interests and manage any compensation he received.

Our lawyers secured an admission of primary liability. However, resolving the claim involved more than establishing responsibility for the accident.

Because our client lacked capacity, he needed to be registered as a Patient with the Court of Protection and a Deputy had to be appointed. Our specialists also needed to wait for the final medical reports before entering into settlement discussions.

These steps ensured the claim could progress while taking account of our client’s inability to manage his own affairs following the accident.

The case was further complicated by our client’s circumstances before the road traffic accident. He had been diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome at birth and was placed in foster care soon afterwards. His parents were both alcoholic.

He also had a history of mental disorder before the accident and had himself been alcohol dependent and used illicit drugs. These circumstances became an important issue when assessing his potential future financial losses.

The defence argued that there should be little or no compensation for future loss of income. Their position was that our client’s earning capacity had already been reduced before the accident because of his existing circumstances.

This meant our lawyers had to address not only the consequences of the serious brain injury, but also the question of what financial losses could properly be attributed to the accident.

Proceedings were issued in the High Court. Our specialists obtained opinions about our client’s future care and case management requirements, alongside numerous specialist medico-legal reports.

This evidence was important in assessing the impact of the brain injury and our client’s future needs before settlement discussions could take place.

A round table meeting was held with the defence to discuss settlement. Damages were agreed at £992,781 before taking account of our client’s contributory negligence.

A 20% deduction was then applied for contributory negligence, reducing the amount payable to our client to £794,183.

The settlement required court approval. Once approval had been obtained, the damages were paid into the Court of Protection.

Our lawyers also advised our client’s Deputy, his stepfather, about our client’s ongoing needs and requirements and the Deputy’s ability to make payments on his stepson’s behalf. This meant the legal work continued beyond agreeing the damages, helping to ensure the compensation could be managed on our client’s behalf.