We are very pleased to have reached a settlement (and subsequent Court Approval) of an award of damages for a young girl injured in a road traffic collision.
Case background
Our Client (SLB) was only 4 years old at the time of the collision (now aged 9). She was a passenger in the rear of a vehicle (restrained in a car seat) when mum’s then boyfriend left the carriageway and crashed into a tree.
Injuries sustained
By the time the emergency services had arrived, SLB had been removed from her seat and it became clear that she had sustained serious internal injuries. She was taken to the closest major trauma centre (St George’s) where she was diagnosed with a perforated bowel. She underwent a subsequent laparotomy to repair the perforation, and she remained in hospital for a period of just over two weeks before she was discharged home. Unfortunately, after a few days at home, she started to go downhill and she was readmitted to hospital. Her symptoms were managed conservatively and she was discharged once again a couple of days after.
Rehabilitation
We were instructed at a very early stage in proceedings and a case manager was appointed under The Rehabilitation Code. The case manager carried out an Immediate Needs Assessment and SLB and her family received the support that they required. Once SLB was well enough to re-enter her educational setting, it became apparent that she needed some support as her behaviour had changed and therefore a play therapist was engaged to help with her reintegration.
As she was so young, SLB was also in receipt of other psychological therapies to help with her difficulty sleeping and bed wetting.
Additional complexities
SLBs recovery was complicated by the fact that she subsequently developed epilepsy. Attention therefore turned to establishing whether the epilepsy was related to the injuries sustained or otherwise. After obtaining reports in the field of neurology and neuro-radiology, it was opined that on the balance of probabilities, the epilepsy was not related to the injuries sustained in the collision.
There was a further complication by the suggestion that some of SLBs behavioural changes could have been as a result of other factors, and the Defendants agreed to pay for a private autism spectrum assessment which revealed that SLB was also autistic. Again, it was essential to determine what, if any, of her behavioural changes were as a result of the collision, or the result of the autism diagnosis.
The case outcome
Following the issuing of Court proceedings and the obtaining of the necessary medical evidence, settlement was reached for SLB and this was subsequently approved by the High Court for a sum to reflect the severity of the injuries that she had sustained and the level of care and support that she required going forward.
Tim Kirfield, from the Personal injury team was the lead fee earner in the case and the team included Emily Read, Barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk.
