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This is the round up of the 2.5 yr legal battle which I know many of you have been following.
You have to remember that this case was looking like it was going to settle for £30,000 from the original legal team that my insurers provided me with. i decided to seek out Andrew Campbel and he managed to get the following results.
£466,000 filtering accident settlement
Mr N –v- Mr S
On 31st July 2007 the Claimant was riding his Honda 750cc motorbike along Kings Road in Brighton. He was in the offside of two lanes and his headlights were on. There were other vehicles in the same lane which were, at the relevant time, either stationary or moving very slowly. The Claimant was able to pass them whilst remaining within the lane.
On the right hand side of Kings Road there was a turning into a minor road called Weston Street. As the Claimant approached that point in Kings Road a Mini motorcar being driven by the Defendant suddenly turned, without any indication, in order to cross to Weston Street. The Claimant was in the process of passing the Defendant’s car at the time of the manoeuvre and had no chance of avoiding the collision which then took place.
The Claimant alleged negligence on the part of the Defendant in failing to look in any of his mirrors or to look over his shoulder before turning; failing to give any indication of his intention to turn right and failing to notice the presence of the Claimant’s motorbike on the road.
The Claimant was thrown from his motorbike and was immediately conscious of severe pain in his left leg. He was taken to hospital by ambulance and a clinical diagnosis of a fracture of the medial malleolus with a possible diastasis with proximal fibular fracture was made. In addition to the bony injury the Claimant suffered a very extensive soft tissue injury to the ankle and was admitted to hospital.
The Claimant’s prognosis remained poor. His ankle remained painful and weight bearing for more than 45 minutes caused swelling. The Claimant’s balance was poor and he could not walk on any surface which was not flat. His pain and disability were such that he could no longer work as a specialist photographer in adventure sports and sailing. He was also unable to undertake his former hobbies of skydiving, snowboarding, skiing, hiking and paragliding and his pilot’s licence was suspended for a while as a result of his injuries.
The Claimant’s insurers initially suggested that he instructed their panel firm and they served a letter of claim in August 2007. The Claimant was not satisfied with the level of service provided and so transferred his instructions to Andrew Campbell, being a specialist in the field of motorcycle accident claims.
On 29th October 2007 the Defendant served statements and a locus report and denied liability. In February 2008 the Defendant stated that liability was still denied. On 10th March 2008 the Claimant submitted a liability offer of 75/25% in his favour. The Defendant responded on 11th March by serving a copy of his engineer’s report and indicating that he believed liability should be split with only 30% in the Claimant’s favour.
The Defendant was not prepared to make any further concessions or offers in relation to liability and as a consequence the Claimant was compelled to issue court proceedings. The proceedings were served on 3rd September 2008 and on 20th November the Defendant made an offer of 50/50 in relation to liability. Negotiations continued with the Defendant eventually agreeing to accept 60% in the Claimant’s favour on 16th December 2008.
Following detailed discussions at a settlement meeting in November 2009 the claim settled for £466,000 gross with a 40% deduction for contributory negligence, leaving the Claimant with £280,000 for what at first seemed like only a moderately serious injury.
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Originally Posted by AlanH
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