Our client and a friend R were walking along
the pavement at the junction of Newport Court and Charing Cross
Road when there was an electrical explosion in a junction box below
the pavement. R sustained severe burns. Our client sustained minor
physical injuries. However, she also went on to develop an acute
stress reaction and post traumatic stress disorder.
London Electricity admitted liability in their
Defence. Judgment was entered for our client and a date for the
assessment of damages hearing was fixed.
Our client had just commenced a PhD prior to
the accident. The evidence was that she would have completed her
PhD earlier but for the accident and would then have begun working.
However, as a result of the accident, her studies were put back 15
months.
The medical evidence was that our client's
psychiatric injuries satisfied the diagnostic criteria for post
traumatic stress disorder for 2½ years and she continued to suffer
from residual symptoms of anxiety and depression for a further 2½
years. We eventually settled our client's claim for £30,000.
Points of interest
The agreed settlement figure took into account
general damages and special damages. The special damages included
loss of earnings due to our client's delayed entry onto the labour
market.
Although our client did not instruct us until
nearly 3 years after the accident, we were still able to commence
proceedings and get a positive result.
Hodge Jones & Allen
June 2002