£500,000 Settlement For Injured Jogger After Serious Road Accident

I recently acted for Ms A, a young woman in her 20's who suffered a significant ankle injury when she was involved in road traffic accident. Ms A was out jogging when a driver lost control and hit her whilst she was waiting to cross the road.

Liability was not disputed by the driver's insurance company. Early on in the claim, I secured funding for rehabilitation from the insurers, with regular interim payments for continued rehabilitation throughout the life of the claim.

It was obvious from the outset that Ms A had suffered a serious ankle injury. She sustained a severe trimalleolar fracture which over a three year period required multiple surgeries, plastic surgery to repair and improve the extensive skin damage to the ankle, and treatment such as steroid injections, physiotherapy and orthotics.

As part of the legal process, I arranged for her to be examined by an orthopaedic expert who confirmed Ms A had developed arthritis in her ankle. She would be likely to need an ankle fusion or ankle replacement within the next 20 years. The expert also recommended she have access to orthotics to support the ankle until such time as a fusion became inevitable. I sourced an orthotics expert and the cost of the future orthotics, as well as likely future surgery were included in Ms A's settlement.

In addition to the ankle injury, Ms A had hit her head on the road when she was struck by the vehicle. She developed vertigo and in the months after the accident, she suffered from migraines. Treatment was again funded by interim payments and these symptoms gradually abated.

As is sometimes the case with serious accidents and protracted recovery, the accident had a significant psychological affect on Ms A. As part of her claim, I also secured funding for over 30 sessions of psychological treatment.

Pre-accident, Ms A worked in a demanding job at a large accounting firm. She returned to work 3 months after the accident but was still in her early recovery. She felt unable to return to her high pressured role and negotiated a secondment to a non-client facing role within her firm.

As time passed, Ms A noticed she was suffering from memory lapses, a reduced ability to concentrate and some word finding difficulties. I arranged for medical reports from a psychiatrist, ENT expert, neurologist and neuropsychologist. The experts advised Ms A had suffered a mild traumatic brain injury. She had also developed PTSD and depression.

Coupled with the continuing pain resulting from the ankle injury which was causing sleep problems and fatigue, the experts considered this constellation of symptoms was likely to be contributing to her cognitive difficulties.

Our neurological and psychiatric experts did not consider that Ms A would be likely to return to her previous role. Her new role allowed her more flexibility to manage the combination of symptoms, but was less financially lucrative. I put her claim forward to the driver's insurers to include a future loss of earnings as Ms A was no longer able to follow her expected pre-accident career trajectory.

Throughout the life of her claim, Ms A was seen by nine different medical specialists who prepared a report in their area of expertise. When these were considered together, it was clear that this accident had permeated every area of Ms A's life, and its effects were far reaching. Once all the evidence was served on the driver's insurers, negotiations led to securing a settlement of over £500,000.

Whilst orthopaedic injuries of this nature can often typically settle for £100,000 or so, part of a solicitor's job is to also investigate the more subtle injuries resulting from an accident, and to look at the impact of an accident in the round. In this case, this increased the value of the claim substantially and ensured Ms A was compensated for the full effects of the accident.