We acted for a young man (aged 15 at the time of his accident) who was involved in a road accident during October 2009. His personal injury claim was vigorously contested by the insurers of the driver and this matter eventually went to a 2 day Trial at Swindon County Court.
Briefly, our client and a school friend were cycling on a pavement on the offside of a driver in a car who was approaching them from behind. He accidentally fell off his bicycle and landed on the road in front of this car and the driver ran over his right ankle causing him a serious injury. It was our case that the driver should have slowed down as he was approaching our client and his friend and if he had been travelling more slowly, he could have stopped in time and avoided this collision. His insurers disagreed and maintained that he was travelling at a reasonable speed and the collision could not have been avoided. Eventually, this matter went to Trial and the Judge decided in our client’s favour although there was a 10% deduction from his damages to represent his own contributory negligence. This had been a Trial on liability only and the next part of the case was to try to assess quantum.
Following the Trial, the solicitors acting for the insurers confirmed that they were lodging an appeal against the Judgment with the Court of Appeal as they were unhappy with the Judge’s findings of fact. In the meanwhile, they made an early offer to settle our client’s claim for only £15,000.00. After further negotiations, we were able to achieve a better settlement for him. It had been difficult to assess quantum as our client had a pre-existing neurological condition which affected his lower limbs. The accident had made this condition worse but the prognosis for the future was encouraging.
S J Edney solicitors obtained compensation of £25,000 for this client during 2013