Personal Injury

Accident at a Health Club

P was a child when a glass door in the changing rooms of a private health club shattered and caused minor cuts and bruises as well as some psychological injury. A £3,000 settlement was approved by the Court

Accident in a residential area

Our client was an eleven year old boy who was hit by a car whilst trying to cross the road in front of a stationary bus. The witnesses said that our client ran or skipped into the road and the driver had no chance to avoid the collision. However the accident happened in a residential area where there were five schools and there had been a media campaign to reduce the speed of cars travelling down residential roads. It was accepted that the accident was partly the claimant’s fault for not looking before stepping into the road. He made a good recovery from his injury – a fractured right ankle – although it ached when he knelt down, and he displayed further symptoms of anxiety. We settled the case for £11,500.

Accident in the classroom

We acted for a nine year old girl who injured her left thumb whilst at school on a sharp piece of metal protruding from the lock on a door to a temporary classroom. The metal caused a deep cut to the base of her thumb which caused a division of the ulnar digital nerve. As a result our client lost feeling in her thumb and underwent a surgical nerve graft in order to repair the nerve. She was left with scars, stiffness and a reduction in grip. She received £10,000.

Accident on a kerb stone

Master N tripped on a raised kerb stone fracturing his clavicle. He fully recovered after 3 months. £2,600 in compensation was approved by the Court

Accident on a school playing field

Master K was playing in a field at school when he tripped on an object hidden in long grass. He sustained a laceration to his lower leg requiring several sutures. The residual scar measured 6 cm and a £5,000 compensation award approved by the Court.

Baby assaulted and injured in creche

Our client was an eight month old baby. She had been left by her parents in a crèche at a well known gym. There was a separate section in the crèche for babies but our client was not taken to this section. Whilst in the care of the crèche our client was attacked by an older child who hit her in the face and bit her chin. Our client was obviously very distressed and her parents took her to the local A&E department. She was left with scratches on her face and teeth marks on her chin, although none of these would leave a permanent mark. Our client was awarded £3,500.

Catastrophic injuries for boy on his bicycle

Our client was aged 12 when he cycled from land owned by a local council onto a ‘cycle way’, straight into the path of a moped; he suffered very serious head injuries. Our client’s mother had originally instructed another firm but was dissatisfied with their lack of progress and 7 years later, transferred the case to Bolt Burdon Kemp. We argued that the local council knew that there was a risk of children cycling from their land on to the cycle way and they should have fenced off the land to prevent such accidents happening.

A barrister advised that the claim would not succeed because, with the passage of time, we could not trace witnesses to previous similar accidents. However, we persevered in investigating and ultimately succeeded in obtaining evidence in support of the claim, producing a settlement of liability approved by the court of 70/30 in the Defendant's favour. Before the accident, our client had been a normal school boy who - when he left school - would have gone into a semi-skilled or skilled manual job and enjoyed normal social interaction and family life. The accident meant that instead he suffered a severe head injury, with fractures to the temporal and basal skull and a subarachnoid haemorrhage. He was unconscious for several weeks and had extensive post traumatic amnesia. Although he made a good physical recovery he developed dysexecutive syndrome with very little insight into his predicament. He was unable to plan ahead or to do more than one task at a time, and also suffered from complex partial seizures with loss of consciousness. We contended for a structured life package involving significant amounts of time devoted entirely to leisure pursuits with short periods of work.

The Defendant made a payment into Court of £165,000, which they later increased to £550,000. This was rejected and by negotiation the Defendant's offer was increased to £600,000 (the equivalent of £1.8m on full liability), which was accepted and approved by the Court.

Child injured on a bus

Miss B was a 6 year old passenger on a bus which braked violently. She hit her mouth on the back of the seat in front of her and damaged two teeth. We agreed a settlement of £5,000 which the court approved.

Child injured when struck in the eye by pupil throwing pen

The Claimant was a school boy who suffered a laceration to the cornea and lens of his right eye when a fellow pupil threw a pen which struck him in the eye. The class was being taken by a supply teacher who left the room because the pupils were being rowdy. We obtained an early admission of liability from the school. As a result of the injury the Claimant will need to undergo surgery to correct the cataract and corneal astigmatism that developed as a result of the trauma to his right eye. We obtained compensation for the claimant in the sum of £18,000.

Child passenger of uninsured driver

When he was 9 Tom (not his real name) was a rear seat passenger in a car being driven by a relative who was uninsured. The driver of the car in which he was travelling caused a horrific accident in which passengers in other cars were killed. Four people in his car were injured including Tom who fractured his lower leg. Tom was very good at football and now that he has recovered he is going to football school. He was awarded £7,500 by the court.

Child struck by car

C suffered a head injury when she was struck by a car. She remembered nothing of the accident. Eye witnesses said she had run out into the road without looking. Nevertheless we successfully recovered £5,000.00 for her which was approved by the court.

Fall from a slide

Our client, aged 3, was taken to the Victoria Community Park in Southwark by her mother. The cover to an aperture on a slide was missing. The child climbed through the hole on to the top of a tunnel. She slipped from the tunnel and fell to the ground and broke her elbow. She was very distressed and in a great deal of pain. Fortunately she made a good recovery. London Borough of Southwark admitted liability for the accident and the Court approved the settlement of £4,000.

Fall from third floor flat

Our 2 ½ year old client was placed on a window ledge by his 13 year old brother. Our client crawled along the window ledge and fell through a window which was missing its pane of glass, falling three storeys onto the grass below. Despite fracturing his L2 verterbra, he was fully recovered 8 months after the accident. We sued the owners of the flats who denied liability, blaming a lack of care from the brother or the parents. However they we were able to persuade them to accept full responsibility and they paid our client £3,200 in compensation.

Ground breaking court decision for injured boy

Our client was a 10 year old boy who cycled across a junction, straight through a give way sign onto the main road. He was struck by a car which was not exceeding the speed limit but we sued the driver and the owner of a car parked on the junction which had blocked our client’s vision at the crucial moment. The court found our client 50% to blame, and established that driving within the speed limit does not exclude negligence against a driver and that parking cars on the corners of junction and impeding visibility is negligent.

Injured whilst running across the road

Our client was 11 when she ran without warning across the Lower Clapton Road in London E5 and was hit by a car travelling well within the speed limit. Our client herself could remember nothing of the accident. The driver stated that moments before the accident he had seen our client running from the other side of the road, and we argued he should have slowed down or sounded his horn. The Court approved a settlement of £5,000.00, taking account of the risks of going to trial.

Last minute settlement for motor cycle courier

Mr B was 16 years old and working as a motorcycle courier. As he was driving his scooter, the door of a parked van opened and to avoid a collision, he was forced onto the opposite carriageway where he was struck by a motorcycle coming in the opposite direction. Mr B sustained catastrophic head and spinal injuries. We sued both the van driver and Mr B's employer, the latter having provided a vehicle which Mr B was too young and untrained to ride, and effectively the means for him to have a serious accident. Days before the liability trial, both Defendants jointly accepted 90% liability for our client’s accident.

Shaken baby

Miss E sustained catastrophic brain injury when she was two months old, as a result of a violent shaking by her father who subsequently pleaded guilty to the offence of assault causing grievous bodily harm. As a result of her injuries Miss E suffered cerebral palsy affecting all four of her limbs, with fits and seizures controlled by medication. She would have significant developmental delays and extensive health and care needs, unable to sit up or roll over and with poor vision. We achieved the maximum award of £250,000.00 for the injuries themselves within 2 years of applying to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority for compensation. In addition we successfully persuaded the CICA to pay the costs of setting up and administering the trust fund, when normally those costs would be deducted from the award.

Slip on hospital floor

We acted for W who was 4 years old at the date of the accident. He attended a local hospital for a vaccination and was playing in the children's play area whilst waiting for the appointment. As he was playing he slipped on a tiled floor and struck his head on the broken chassis of a nearby fixed seat which had exposed metalwork. The court approved a settlement of £2,250 for him which the court will hold in a special account until he is 18 years old.

Teenager falls in derelict building

Miss F, 13, suffered a very severe head injury when playing with friends in a derelict building. She fell through a hole in the top floor and fell 15 feet, landing on concrete. Although she was a trespasser, we succeeded in establishing that the occupier was 75% responsible and went on to recover £275,000.00 damages for her.

Trip in the Park

D, aged 16, broke her collar bone when she tripped over the remains of a tree stump on park land belonging to a local authority. The tree stump could not be seen in the long grass and the whole area was poorly maintained. D was just about to start a sports course and found this difficult after her injury. Liability for the injury was never admitted but the Council offered £9,000 which she accepted.

Young boy hits head on toilet bowl at school

We acted for a 4 year old boy who was injured at school. Our client was permitted to go to the toilet on his own and slipped on a wet floor which caused him to hit his forehead on the toilet bowl. The Claimant sustained a laceration to his forehead which left a scar above his left eyebrow. We obtained £6,000 compensation for our client.