The Benefit of Experience in a Brain Injury Case – A Client Story

Injuries and impact

Scott sustained a severe traumatic brain injury in the accident. Formerly living with his fiancée and baby, he returned to his parents’ home after months in hospital. His relationship ended, and he faced challenges performing everyday tasks, requiring prompts and assistance for activities and daily living. He now requires near constant support to live independently in his own flat.

Immediate Support

Scott and his family instructed Nina, owing to her track record in helping people with brain injuries obtain compensation. In the immediacy, interim payments were obtained to fund a private rehabilitation regime, accommodation and a case manager.

Nina, reflecting on representing Scott, shared, “I was delighted the family instructed me with their son’s claim. Having acted in many catastrophic brain injury cases, I know the value of experience and knew, as a team, we would provide Scott with the best chance of rebuilding his life and take away some of the stress from his family.

I am aware of the things that make a real difference, I understand what resources and professional help are out there and have the experience to identify expenses and claim for items that the client may not have thought of themselves, such as the cost of child care to enable the client to continue to see his young son, or the cost of ensuring that someone who can no longer drive has access to funds to pay for transport for life.”

Liability

Engineering evidence obtained after the crash determined that Scott had not been travelling at a speed that would have led him to negotiate the bend in the manner he did. It became apparent that he was reacting to something. Proceedings were then formally issued against the driver of the car waiting to turn right across the path of Scott, the only witness to the accident.

Liability was denied and the matter went to trial over 3 days. The judge found wholly in Scott’s favour, after the Defendant admitted under cross examination that that they had started to pull forward out of the junction. It was determined that the most likely cause of the accident was Scott reacting to the hazard presented by the defendant pulling out, steering to avoid a crash, and subsequently colliding with the tree, leaving him with catastrophic injuries.

Long term prognosis

In terms of Scott’s recovery, significant improvements were made, thanks to the private care he received which included physiotherapy, occupational therapy, neuropsychology and speech and language therapy, all covered by the interim payments. However, his injuries were such that returning to work in the future would not be possible.

Settlement

Our team put together strong arguments as to the level of care and financial support Scott would need for life together with supporting medical evidence. The case was settled weeks before trial and Scott received a lump sum together with a guarantee of annual payments for life in a settlement valued at around £14 million on a capitalised basis.

Nina reflecting on the conclusion of the case said “The entire team were delighted with the outcome. It means Scott will be able to live as normal a life as is possible, living independently from his parents and with the support from a dedicated case manager and care workers for life.

This was a challenging case, trying to establish responsibility in a case where only one party can remember the accident and there are no other witnesses, makes it very difficult and we had to go all the way to a trial of responsibility to establish that the other driver was at fault. With experience and with the assistance of an expert accident reconstruction expert, we were able to tell the story of what had actually happened to this young man.

I am delighted at the outcome for the client and his family, who were devoted to their son and offered unwavering support to him.”