Moore Barlow represented three young men from Liverpool having all sustained serious injuries and consequential losses whilst passengers in a vehicle which crashed on a major road. Daryl Robinson and Sophie Winstanley in the major trauma team has obtained settlements for three passengers in a vehicle travelling back to Liverpool from a music festival in Kent.
Case background
Passenger [1] aged 18 at the time of the accident was a restrained front seat passenger in a vehicle in which the driver crashed into two other vehicles whilst attempting to cross a dual carriageway. After being cut out of the vehicle, he was air-lifted to hospital, but the expectation was that he would not survive.
He sustained multiple injuries, including a severe traumatic brain injury as well as significant bilateral chest contusions, traumatic pneumatoceles, left side rib fractures, a splenic laceration, a left kidney laceration, end plate fractures to T7 and T8, bilateral pelvic fractures, cervical fractures and optic nerve damage.
He was admitted to critical care at King’s College Hospital, London where his traumatic brain injury was managed conservatively. He suffered medical complications whilst in critical care but once under control was repatriated to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool, before being discharged home to the care of his family some 4 weeks later.
He had a post traumatic amnesia of approximately 20-22 days, categorising it as a ‘severe’ injury in which he demonstrated a number of neuropsychological, neurobehavioural and psychological difficulties following the index accident. There was also evidence to indicate that he might be suffering delusional beliefs that were further complicating his presentation.
Moore Barlow instructed
At the point of Moore Barlow’s instruction, our client had ongoing cognitive problems with memory, concentration and planning/organisation. He had neurobehavioural functioning issues, with cognitive fatigue, cognitive overstimulation, irritability, impulsivity and decreased motivation / initiation. Psychological functioning extended to anxiety (social anxiety and travel anxiety), Posttraumatic symptomatology, low self-esteem and low mood. Aspects of executive functioning were managed by the implementation of strategies and assistance.
In addition to the appointment of a clinical case manager conducting a rehabilitation programme with multiple disciplinary team of therapists, there was also the introduction of a rehabilitation assistant working closely with our client.
His employment as a highly regarded musician was compromised and he required support to manage events and fatigue levels. Moore Barlow also took steps to fund support to assist in the completion of the last stages of his music degree.
As part of Moore Barlow’s assessment of our client’s long-term prognosis, it was necessary to assess mental capacity and it was established that whilst he retained capacity to litigate with the support from his family, he lacked capacity to manage his financial affairs therefore a deputy was introduced to manage his funds going forward.
Funding and outcomes
We also secured funding to start a fully supported independent living trial which proved, in the main, to be successful.
Following this trial, we advanced the process required to value the claim with expert reports in the field of Neurology, Neuropsychology, Neuropsychiatry, Rehabilitative medicine, Plastic surgery, Audio-vestibular, Ophthalmology, Maxillo-facial, Orthopaedic, Speech and Language, Neuro-physiotherapy, Pain management and Care.
We secured interim payments of £138,000 during the lifetime the claim to fund rehabilitation which was always a key focus for the team.
At the settlement conference, the claim for injury, loss of earnings, care, medication, transport, case management, plus all expected future losses including deputyship costs were all secured in the sum of £3m which was then subsequently approved before the Royal Court’s of Justice.
Representation for passengers two and three
Moore Barlow also represented passenger [2] aged 20 having sustained a fractured pelvis, injuries to his lungs, spleen, adrenal gland plus fractures of the L1 vertebra and transverse fractures of L1 to L4 resulting in a settlement of £550,000 and passenger [3] aged 22 having sustained a moderate brain injury plus a fractured left clavicle, pelvic fractures, cervical spine fracture, facial laceration and psychological trauma resulting in a settlement of £125,000.
Moore Barlow was instructed by the families via the Major Trauma Signposting Partnership (MTSP).
Moore Barlow team also consisted of Daryl Robinson as the lead, and counsels’ Sophie Winstanley and Shahram Sharghy of 1 Crown Office Row.
How Moore Barlow can help
Moore Barlow is here to help those who have suffered major trauma and need to make a claim, access rehabilitation, interim payments and secure compensation. If you need to speak with one of our expert personal injury solicitors, please call 020 3962 7333 or contact Daryl Robinson.
