Award for spinal injury in road traffic accident

Oliver Chapman a specialist personal injury lawyer based at Thomson Snell & Passmore’s Tunbridge Wells and Dartford (Thames Gateway) offices, have secured £95,000 for a front seat passenger who was injured in a road traffic accident in which the driver died.

The claimant was a commercial airline pilot in his 20s who, due to a recent redundancy, was working in agriculture.

He met a friend and they went to a pub for a drink after work. The claimant was the passenger. On their return journey, the driver lost control of the car and it crashed.

The driver, who was not wearing his seatbelt, died in the collision.

The claimant suffered a number of injuries including factured ribs, instability of his right shoulder and crush fractures to several vertebrae in his spine. Fortunately, he made a good recovery.

Despite the circumstances of the accident, the defendant’s insurance company failed to admit liability and, in order to progress the claim, we were forced to issue court proceedings. We made an offer of settlement which sought to compensate the claimant not only for his injuries but also his lost earnings, the care provided by his family, his private medical treatment and his future financial losses (which took into account the impact that the accident had upon his career as a pilot). Fortunately, notwithstanding his injuries, the claimant found further work as a pilot relatively quickly.

Solicitors were instructed to act for the driver’s insurance company and they alleged that the driver was contributory negligent for failing to wear a seat belt. Such allegations were spurious and were strongly and successfully rebutted.

The case settled for £95,000 plus payment of the claimant’s legal costs.

This case was dealt with by Oliver Chapman who both specialise in road traffic collision claims. If you would like to ask Oliver a question about a potential case, or if you have a general query about any personal injury claim, please contact him 01892 51000