£635,000 compensation for cyclist with severe orthopaedic foot and ankle injury
We recently settled a personal injury claim for a cyclist with severe orthopaedic foot and ankle injuries for £635,000.
Miss D aged 36 suffered a traumatic partial amputation of her left foot in a cycling accident. Liability was conceded.
At the time of the accident the Claimant was working as a community development worker. She had an alternative lifestyle living aboard a narrow boat and did not own a car. She was ideologically opposed to car ownership. Her bicycle was her main form of transport.
Immediately after the accident she was taken to hospital where she had to sign an amputation consent form in respect of her foot. In addition to the partial amputation/degloving of the foot, it was found that the Claimant had suffered substantial damage to her ankle. Four operations followed and her foot was saved. Miss D was then discharged to the care of her parents.
Miss D, repeatedly described by the experts as “stoical”, was determined to return to her pre-accident lifestyle aboard her narrow boat. She managed - with support - to do so for three years. She was unable to walk bare-foot, but with orthotics and sturdy boots, she was at the time of settlement able to walk – only occasionally needing walking aids. She suffered monthly breakdowns in the skin of the foot with the consequent risks of infection and amputation. The prognosis was of gradual deterioration, significant arthritic change, increasing dependence on walking aids, and complex orthotics or surgery within 10 years. The risk of amputation of the foot/leg was 15% in five years, 30% in ten years and 60% in 15 years. Provisional damages were claimed. The Claimant was advised that to delay amputation for as long as possible, she needed to take great care with her foot. This meant abandoning her narrow boat lifestyle which put it under significant strain.
Miss D managed to gradually return to work, part time initially building up to full-time approximately a year after the accident. This brought her continuing loss of earnings to an end. Her fixed-term contract ended in April 2005 and she found alternative, better-paid, work. However, her increasing pain forced her to reduce her hours to four days per week in her new job by November 2005. Whilst she was still earning more than in her pre-accident employment, it created a partial loss of earnings claim if it was accepted that she would have obtained the replacement job in any event.
Following the Claimant’s acceptance that her lifestyle aboard a narrow boat was no longer sustainable, an interim payment was secured and she moved to a house.
The two most contentious categories under which damages were claimed were (i) the accommodation claim, which was denied in its entirety on the basis that the move from the narrow boat was unnecessary as arguably the purchase of a three-bedroom house with a garden was not reasonably comparable to a 56-foot narrow boat and (ii) the claim for the lifelong costs of car ownership.
Regarding accommodation a notional discount was conceded to Miss D’s road traffic accident claim as arguably she might have moved to conventional accommodation at some point in her life, and she may have shared such costs with a partner, but the damage was recovered in large part. Regarding the costs of car ownership the settlement allowed for almost full recovery of the total claimed.
The personal injury claim was compromised at a round table settlement meeting in the sum of £635,000, on a provisional damages basis. The trigger for returning to Court for additional damages is amputation of the Claimant's leg or foot, at any time during the Claimant’s life.
The principal heads of damage within the settlement were as follows:-
1. General damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity: £60,000
2. Accommodation: £150,000
3. Future partial loss of earnings: £100,000 and £20,000 pension (assuming a four-day week indefinitely)
4. Smith v Manchester award: £25,000 (assuming a reduction in hours sufficient to lead to the Claimant being thrown onto the labour market)
5. Past and future care: £61,000
6. Past and future prostheses, orthotics and specialist footwear: £65,000
7. Car ownership: £95,000
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