The Claimant in this case, Mr Dixon suffered
severe personal injuries in a road traffic accident which occurred
on 5th July 1997.
At the time of the accident the Claimant was
21 years of age and a student at Newcastle University. The accident
occurred during the summer holiday in the early hours of a Saturday
morning when the Claimant and five other friends went for a drive.
The Defendant was the driver and the Claimant was a passenger.
Tragically, the car collided with a tree and
two passengers were killed. The Defendant was subsequently
convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced
to a period of imprisonment.
The Defendant's insurers admitted liability at
the outset. The only issue was the Claimant's own contributory
negligence. In the event, the parties agreed that a deduction of
27.5% was appropriate in this regard, and the court approved that
deduction.
The Claimant suffered a severe traumatic brain
injury in the accident, a complex severe fracture and dislocation
of the left hip and in addition to the surgery involved the
Claimant has a result scarring, foot-drop and a permanent limp. He
also suffered a complex fracture of the right side of the pelvis,
facial injuries including a fractured left jaw, mandible and cheek
bone, chest injuries requiring a tracheotomy and subsequent
revision surgery for the tracheotomy scar. The Claimant remained in
hospital until discharge home a little over four months later.
Between May and October 2003 he was admitted
as an inpatient to a specialist brain injury rehabilitation unit.
The Claimant's main psychiatric problem arising from his traumatic
brain injury is a bipolar mood disorder or hypomania.
The assessment of damages took place in the
High Court in July 2004 before the Honourable Justice Gross. One of
the key issues surrounded the claim for future loss of earnings.
The Claimant succeeded in his claim that he would have had a
successful career in the financial sector. The Court also
considered whether the Claimant should be compensated to reflect
the loss of a chance he had to achieve very high earnings but
decided that this element was speculative and did not make any
award for that.
The Claimant was awarded the cost of past and
future care and case management. The court preferred the evidence
of the Claimant's experts on this issue.
The Claimant was awarded:
- Pain suffering and loss of amenity £ 147,500
- interest thereon to the date of trial of £ 11,800
- Past losses to the date of trial £ 345,000
- Interest £ 75,478
- Future surgery, physiotherapy and prescriptions £ 67,652
- Future loss of earnings and car allowance £ 905,121
- Future loss of insurance policies £ 15,500
- Future loss of pension £ 207,184
- Future costs of Court of Protection and Receiver £ 169,344
- Future care and case management costs £2,238,578
- Total amount of damages for past
- and future losses £4,183,157
- After deduction for contributory negligence of 27.5% the
Claimant was awarded £3,032,279.
Hodge Jones & Allen
27th October 2004