Driver who suffered life-changing injuries in car crash receives £800,000 payout

Ellisons Solicitors has secured more than £800,000 for a seriously-injured motorist after their car was crushed in an Essex road traffic accident.

The individual suffered multiple skull fractures and an acute traumatic brain injury requiring months of hospital care when a driver lost control of his large vehicle and collided with the claimant’s car. Several surgical procedures had to be performed and the cognitive effects of the accident significantly impaired the claimant’s speech, vision, hearing, balance and mental stamina.

Ellisons Solicitors secured interim payments to fund private rehabilitative treatment 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 have been 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.

Stevan Stratton, Head of Ellisons Solicitors’ 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. It was crucial for this claimant to have legal representation to ensure all the necessary medical and employment expert evidence was obtained to allow for an accurate assessment of damages, whilst also ensuring 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. Their injuries meant 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.”

At a Joint Settlement Meeting, Ellisons Solicitors was able to negotiate an overall settlement of just under £850,000 on behalf of the claimant, six months before trial. This was more than four times the defendant insurer’s original offer made three years after the accident.

Mr Stratton added: “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 they already felt a huge weight had been lifted and they were now able to look forward and focus on how they were going to rebuild their life and look after their family.”

The Ellisons’ Claimant 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.