Incident

Tony is an 81 year old Widower from Newtownabbey, who lives on his own.  He was walking home one afternoon and was crossing the road when he was struck by a speeding Taxi which knocked him into the air, off the bonnet and onto the windscreen.  Tony had no memory of the incident other than getting ready to cross the road.

Police and Ambulance crew both attended the scene where Tony was left lying in the middle of the road bleeding profusely.  There was immediate evidence of a head injury.  Tony was rushed by ambulance to the Emergency Department of the Royal Victoria Hospital where an initial assessment of his injuries was made, followed by a CT Scan which revealed a large right sided frontal scalp haematoma – in other words a brain haemorrhage.  A CT Scan of his body revealed two fractured ribs in addition to the cuts to his wrist and forehead that required stitches.

Tony’s very serious injuries that were sustained in the accident were complicated by the fact that he was a diabetic and he subsequently developed pneumonia whilst in hospital.  He spent three weeks receiving hospital care and a further three weeks in a rehabilitation unit undergoing physiotherapy before he was able to return home.

Tony, supported by his family, contacted Gary Bell and a personal injury claim was put in motion.  The claim was complicated by the fact that Tony had no recollection of the accident whatsoever.  Fortunately however there were four witnesses who made statements to the Police indicating that they had witnessed the accident and they were of the opinion that the taxi driver had been speeding.

The Police subsequently prosecuted the taxi driver but his insurance company was still not admitting liability.  In the meantime Tony returned home and required a lot of support during his recovery which was provided by his family who were on hand day and night.

As is standard procedure in any personal injury claim, we obtained Tony’s hospital notes and records and arranged medico-legal appointments – reports were obtained from a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and a Clinical Neuropsychologist detailing every aspect of Tony’s injury and giving a prognosis for his future recovery.  An Occupational Therapist was also instructed to provide a care report to set out Tony’s care needs – even though this care was largely provided by his family it was possible to quantify what this would have cost if it was being paid for privately.  Tony required five hours of care per day – to assist with personal care, supervision, household tasks and administration of medication and ten hours supervision at night.  The Occupational Therapist’s assessment became part of our claim for damages in addition to the claim for personal injuries.