£3.3 million compensation for child after serious car accident

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Lilly was just four years old when her mother’s car was involved in a serious accident on the motorway. The car collided with the central reservation, spun and crashed into another vehicle. The crash happened at high speed and Lilly sustained serious head injuries. She was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital and spent time at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit where she underwent extensive investigations including an MRI scan and neurological assessments. They indicated that she had suffered a serious head injury: brain haemorrhage and trauma to the brain. Early assessments showed evidence of reduced cognitive function, behavioural concerns and right-sided weakness, as well as deterioration of speech and language skills.

Lilly’s dad realising the gravity of Lilly’s injuries understood that he would have to make a personal injury claim against Lily’s mum’s insurance. Even though liability was admitted fairly quickly and in full and interim payments (immediate payments made by the defendant to help meet the claimant’s urgent needs) were arranged for Lilly to access rehabilitation and support over and above what the NHS could offer privately, the case took a very long time to settle. Determining the long-term impact of a brain injury in children can be challenging. Brain development continues for many years, making it difficult to assess the full extent of their injuries until they are older. That means that solicitors often have to put as much provision in place as they can and then allow time to pass to ensure that they have an as complete as possible understanding of the child’s needs and how they will impact them when they become adults. Understanding prognosis is vital and that cannot be assessed with confidence often until adolescence at the earliest.

The car accident compensation claim and deputyship

Enable Law took over the case from the initial solicitors as they lacked the necessary expertise to run such a complicated case. This happened around 2 years after initial proceedings were issued. At this stage many things had changed for Lilly including a move to another part of the country and her grandfather being appointed as her litigation friend instead of her dad.

As she grew older, Lilly’s needs became more evident. She was falling behind in her development, experiencing issues with her memory, attention and retention, expressing herself with words and in writing as well as problems with planning, problem solving and social function. She continued to exhibit weakness in her left-hand motor function and poor balance. She was unable to fully engage with her education and struggled with daily living tasks so continued to need support and supervision over and above what her peers living without an Acquired Brain Injury did. However, her injury being “hidden” many people on meeting Lilly would fail to notice her deficits. This can be common with brain injury.

By retaining the right combination of medical experts we proved that all these things making Lilly’s daily living more challenging and requiring significant care support were linked to the traumatic brain injury. The insurers continued arguing for years that many of these issues were not linked to her injury. They were wrong.

After settling liability and having monitored and assessed Lilly’s needs we agreed a settlement of £3.3 million to make up for the care and support she will need for the rest of her life as well as the fact that she is unlikely to ever be able to work for a living. That settlement was then approved by the High Court. The overall claim took 16 years to settle, a long period of time by any standards which put strain in Lilly’s home environment and relationship with her family.

Nikki Millings was appointed as her Court of Protection Deputy to help her manage her financial affairs and ensure that her compensation will be able to meet all the needs caused by her injury in the present and for the rest of her life.

How we can help you

At Enable law we have a dedicated team led by Huw Ponting supporting children and adults that have suffered a traumatic brain injury. The team has decades of experience and understanding of brain injury enabling them to bring together the right expert team to understand the individuals own challenges and their future needs. If you or a loved one have suffered an acquired brain injury because of an incident that was not your fault we can help you. Call us today for free on 0800 044 8488 or fill in our contact form so we can call you back at a time convenient for you. If you have legal representation you feel is not meeting your needs we are always happy to have a confidential chat and explore if there is something we can do to support you.

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