Record Personal Injury Claim Compensation Payments
2010 has been a year of record compensation payments for personal injury claimants. The
claimant in each of the three personal injury claims discussed below was involved in a road
traffic accident and sustained very significant, severe and life-changing injuries. Injuries which
led to the claimants needing professional care and assistance for the rest of their lives and
preventing them from working at all in the future.
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Wasim Mohammed was involved in a car accident just a few days before his 19 birthday. He
was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his friend, who was reported to have been driving at
dangerously excessive speeds. The car was involved in a collision when the driver tried to
overtake another vehicle at a junction. Mr Mohammed was very seriously injured in the crash
and sustained spinal injuries as well as a broken neck. He now has no movement in his legs,
very little function in his arms, and needs almost constant care and assistance due to his
injuries. An out of court settlement was agreed just before the claim was due to be heard at
Birmingham County Court. Mr Mohammed’s settlement package had a value of approximately
£11.5million and involved a lump sum payment of £4.25million together with annual payments
of £235,000 for the rest of Mr Mohammed’s life.
Manny Helmot was a 28 year old professional cyclist, who had represented Guernsey in the
Commonwealth Games in 1998, when he was involved in an accident. Mr Helmot was
knocked down by a car when on a training exercise and was left with devastating injuries.
He sustained extensive brain damage, has permanently lost the use of his right arm and is
now partially sighted. He will need care and assistance for the rest of his life and, of course,
the accident signalled the end of his cycling career. Initially awarded £9million at trial, both the
claimant and defendant appealed the award, the defendant suggesting that the award was
too generous and the claimant arguing it was not enough for Mr Helmot’s needs. The appeal
judge agreed with the claimant and Mr Helmot’s settlement was increased to £14million. At
the time this was thought to be the largest personal injury payout.
However in October 2010, the High Court in London awarded a personal injury claimant a
record £17.5million. The claimant in this case, Christine Johnson, was just 16 years old when
the car she was a passenger in was involved in a collision with a lorry. Ms Johnson, who
before the accident was a care-free 16 year old who had just completed her GCSEs and was
goalkeeper in a local girls’ football team, was almost completely paralysed by the catastrophic
brain injury she sustained in the accident. She is now a wheelchair user, completely
dependent on nursing care for the rest of her life. Ms Johnson had, reportedly, been intending
to become a paramedic when she was older but will not be able to pursue this ambition any
more. Her compensation payout was broken down into a £4million lump sum with annual
payments of £300,000 for the rest of her life.
The aim of any kind of negligence claim is to try to put the claimant back into the position they
were in before the negligence happened. Of course this is rather difficult, if not impossible, to
achieve in the case of the injury itself. The Court can neither remove the pain and suffering
nor make that pain and suffering easier to bear. It can only offer an amount of money for the
pain and suffering a claimant has experienced and the financial losses they have had as a
result of the physical or psychological injury they have because of an accident.
A claimant in a successful personal injury claim will receive compensation for the financial
losses they have (and will have in the future), for example to pay for the costs of the care they
need (nursing, physiotherapy, the cost of operations they have to undergo) or to compensate
someone for the earnings they lose as a result of the accident. When someone has a serious
injury, like the three claimants discussed above, they may need to have adaptations made to
their home (perhaps they cannot walk up stairs any more, or get into and out of a bath by
themselves). They may even need to purchase a new home because of the space they will
need at home for the equipment they require, for treatment sessions to take place at home, to
accommodate a wheelchair they will now need to use for the rest of their life.
As well as their financial losses, in all personal injury claims, claimants will be compensated
for their pain suffering and loss of amenity (or loss of their ability to enjoy things like their
hobbies and leisure pursuits). Perhaps surprisingly, compensation for pain, suffering and loss
of amenity is not a large amount of money. As an example, for very severe injuries involving
brain damage a claimant will probably be awarded, or agree a settlement of, something like
£200,000 to £250,000 for their pain, suffering and loss of amenity. While that is, undoubtedly,
a significant sum of money, in the context of a £17.5million or even an £11.5million settlement
it is a tiny proportion of the overall compensation that a claimant will receive.It is, in fact, the
compensation for a claimant’s financial losses that will make a difference in the value of a
personal injury claim largely due to the fact that these losses continue for a number of years.
Here at Davies and Partners, we have a specialist personal injury team in each of our offices
who can assist in a range of personal injury and clinical negligence claims, including claims
for catastrophic injury.
Jhodi Ward
Solicitor, Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence Department