Psychiatric Injury

Date: December 2007

Mrs Jones was driving on the M25. As she passed a French articulated truck the driver pulled into her lane but misjudged the manoeuvre and clipped the rear of her car. This sent her car spinning off the road where it came to rest in a field. Remarkably her physical injuries were very slight but there were other effects of the accident which only came to light later. She struggled to carry on with her office-based job and was eventually dismissed on grounds of poor attendance due to ill-health, and deficiencies in her performance in the role. The dismissal occurred more than a year after the accident.

Although the lorry driver to blame for the accident was French we were able to establish liability against him and ensure that his French Insurers appointed English based agents to deal with the claim.

Mrs Jones was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder which would make it difficult for her to return to work in the future.

The claim eventually settled for just under £¼ million. The case shows just how devastating psychiatric injuries can be even where there are no or relatively minor physical injuries. This lady's life was changed for ever by an accident which in other circumstances would probably have killed her but from which she emerged physically virtually unscathed, but the psychological scars will remain with her for the rest of her life. 

For more information contact Michael Longmore

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