£750,000 settlement for brain Injury cyclist.
Ellisons Solicitors represented a claimant who was left with multiple serious injuries following a road traffic accident in Suffolk and helped them to recover £750,000 in compensation.
The claimant was cycling to work and was injured when a car collided into their client when turning at a junction. The driver had not noticed and given way to their client and, as a result of the collision, the claimant was thrown into the air and over the car, landing head-first in the road.
The cyclist suffered multiple injuries including a head laceration and traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage. This was classified by the neurologists as a moderate-to-severe brain injury. As a result, the cyclist suffered with a range of debilitating symptoms including severe headaches, visual disturbance, dizziness and vertigo, extreme fatigue and she struggled with decision-making, short term memory recall, concentration and learning.
During the five-year case, Ellisons Solicitors were able to secure interim payments to fund private rehabilitative treatment from a range of therapists and to support the client with their financial difficulties.
The claimant worked exceptionally hard with a range of therapists in physiotherapy, speech therapy, psychotherapy and occupational therapy and, as a result, managed to make a very good recovery. Nevertheless, they will be left with significant and permanent ongoing symptoms and, whilst they have developed excellent coping strategies to help deal with these, they have had to go through a process of grieving their ‘old self’ in order to then look at rebuilding their life.
Ellisons ensured that the driver’s insurance company funded a programme of private rehabilitative treatment from a range of therapists, a support worker and a childcare assistant.
Stevan Stratton, Head of Ellisons Claimant Personal Injury team said: “The claimant has suffered life-changing injuries and they and their family have been through an extremely distressing ordeal both in the recovery process but also in the legal process of pursuing the defendant’s insurer for compensation. Therefore, it was crucial for this claimant to have legal representation to ensure that all the necessary medical and employment expert evidence was obtained to allow for an accurate assessment of damages whilst also ensuring that the much needed and intense programme of rehabilitative treatment was funded and arranged”.
“Before the incident, the claimant was in good health and balanced parental responsibilities with work commitments. The injuries suffered by the claimant meant that every aspect of their life has been affected. However, the determination shown by this claimant and their commitment to rehabilitation was exceptional and crucial to the level of recovery made.”
“The claimant had studied and worked very hard in her career and they had been performing a skilled job in the years prior to the accident. The injuries suffered had prevented the claimant from returning to work and there is uncertainty as to whether they will ever be able to return to earning a similar salary ever again. However, everyone involved in the claimant’s treatment was hugely impressed by their commitment and it is hoped that the level of improvement achieved by them over the last 18 months bodes well for the future.”
At a Joint Settlement Meeting, Ellisons were unable to agree a settlement but, following discussions over a further 12 months, a settlement was finally agreed at £750,000. This was over double the first offer made by the Defendant solicitors many months earlier.
As the Defendant contested this claim for six years, we can be almost certain that this is an outcome the claimant would not have been able to achieve without early expert legal advice.
Following the settlement, the claimant said that they already felt as if a huge weight had been lifted and that they were now able to look forward and focus on how they were going to rebuild their life and look after their family.
Our Personal Injury team is available to guide you through the process of reviewing your claim, securing private medical treatment and rehabilitation wherever needed and to recover the compensation you are entitled to.
Thank you to Ellisons Solicitors for allowing us to publish this blog.