AN INTERESTING CASE
NOT EXACTLY A BARREL OF FUN OR LAUGHS
ABD Personal Injury Team is always on the case. Rachel Fereday P I solicitor who is based at the Devizes office was approached by Mr X to help. This case was initially a personal injury case for an accident at work…
It all started when Mr X was working at a bingo club in Manchester. The club ran out of beer, so they arranged for one to be delivered from one of their other clubs in the area which arrived by taxi. Mr X was asked to help his manager lift the full beer barrel out of the taxi which was awkward and extremely heavy. In doing that, together with the act of subsequently needing to tilt the barrel to move it into an upright position, he injured his back.
His back strain then developed into an epidural abscess which required surgery. Mr X was left with ongoing back pain, loss of feeling in his feet, needing to use a wheelchair the majority of the time and essentially needing “round the clock” care from his wife. He was only 29 years of age at the time of the accident.
The claim against the employer was initially fiercely defended but Rachel kept the pressure on and eventually the employer conceded primary liability.
During the course of obtaining expert evidence on Mr X’s injuries, the issue of clinical negligence was raised. The expert opinion was that on admission to hospital with the clinical signs that he had, Mr X should have been referred to a specialist unit within 12 hours but instead that was not done for 5 days. Expert opinion was that if treatment had been instituted sooner his long term outcome would have been better.
The Hospital NHS Trust was therefore joined to the court proceedings.
There were several experts involved in the case who agreed that Mr X should have been referred to the specialist unit within at most one day and that had treatment been instigated sooner his long term outcome would have been better.
A care report was obtained to assess Mr X’s position and what aids and equipment could be purchased to improve his quality of life. A pain management report was also obtained to see if treatment could improve his levels of pain and/or help him cope with it.
A date was set for a 3 day Trial to start but, shortly before this, a meeting took place between the legal representatives for the 3 parties in which a settlement was negotiated at £410,000 for Mr X. This settlement was paid partly by the employer and partly by the NHS Trust.
The compensation agreed included the cost of future care that Mr X needed for the rest of his life, equipment and aids (e.g. purchase and maintenance of wheelchairs etc), loss of earnings and the cost of pain management to help him cope with his ongoing pain.
So, thanks to Rachel’s persistent efforts, this compensation can now be used to improve the quality of Mr X’s life.
