£2.25 Million Compensation For Road Traffic Accident

01 December 2005

The High Court in London has today agreed a £2.25 million compensation settlement for a 25-year-old man left physically and mentally disabled and unable to care for himself after a road traffic accident. Mr Peter Andrews QC told the court Paul Rice was just 19 when he was hit by a car while walking across a pelican crossing late at night in his home town of Ashford, Kent, on November 28, 1999. He sustained a head injury leading to complex and severe physical disability – spastic paraparesis with gross weakness in the right arm, trunk, pelvis and both legs with exterior spasms and difficulty remaining seated in a wheelchair. He also suffers from psychological disability with loss of cognitive capacity, poor memory and attention span, poor communication, inability to plan and some limited insight and behavioural disturbance with unpredictable and volatile temperament. Paul spent 21 months in various hospitals recovering from his life-threatening injuries and receiving intensive multi-disciplinary brain injury treatment. He was discharged in August 2001 and allowed home where his parents, Bob and Angela, had made substantial alterations to adapt their house to Paul’s immediate needs. Paul’s lawyer Neille Ryan, a personal injury specialist at Furley Page Solicitors, said on behalf of the family: “At the time of the accident, Paul had set up his own home with his then partner, was due to start a new job the following week and had so much to look forward to in life. In the blink of an eye, all that was taken away from him leaving Paul, and those who love him, having to deal with the devastating consequences. “The claim has been handled in an atmosphere of co-operation between Paul’s legal team, the car driver’s insurers and Kent County Council Social Services. This is epitomised by Social Services’ written commitment to provide Paul with independent living accommodation with specialist 24-hour two-person care and multi-disciplinary therapies for the rest of his life. Helpfully they have also given written reassurances that no attempt will be made to use Paul’s damages to pay for care provided by Social Services. “This care provision, coupled with Paul’s compensation, will enable him to set up home on his own, pay for live-in carers and not have to rely on his family, buy and maintain the plethora of specialist equipment he needs. The settlement gives Paul the opportunity to put the accident behind him and look to the future.”

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