Multi-million pound damages for severe brain damage as result of road traffic accident

Approved Settlement: The High Court has awarded compensation, at a sum yet to be assessed, to a teenage girl who was severely brain-damaged in a road traffic accident. An interim payment was also awarded to fund a new home adapted to the claimant’s needs.

Analysis

The claimant suffered severe skull fractures and brain injury when a car in which she was a passenger was involved in a serious road accident. A year after the accident she was assessed as being in a ‘minimally conscious state’, although her condition has since improved.

A medical expert has said her intellect will always remain ‘significantly affected’ by her injuries, and is she is unlikely to be able to communicate verbally or gain independence. She will require significant support for her personal, domestic, community and leisure activities for life.

The car driver’s insurer admitted liability.

At the High Court on 24 June 2016, Judge John Reddihough approved an interim compensation payment of £985,000 to cater for the claimant’s immediate needs. She is currently in a rehabilitation unit, so the interim payment will buy and adapt a new home for the claimant and her family.

The full amount of compensation has yet to be assessed, but is expected to worth several million pounds.

LNB News 24/06/2016 102 and Lexis Nexis