£500,000 obtained in subtle brain injury case following road traffic collision

Tom Ranson, a personal injury specialist at Ashtons Legal, obtained compensation of £500,000 for Mrs V after she was involved in a road traffic collision.

Mrs V was stationary when another vehicle was driven into the rear of her car.

She suffered a ‘whiplash’ injury and a combination of neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms, albeit at the more subtle, less obvious, end of the scale. For example, Mrs V had problems with her balance, light and sound sensitivity, headaches, fatigue and mood. She also had problems with her memory, ability to concentrate and to plan or organise things, the combination of which affected her ability to function, day to day, especially in her demanding professional life.

Immediately after the collision, Mrs V tried to carry on as before but struggled to do so, eventually having to make a number of changes to her professional and home lives to accommodate her symptoms.

Mrs V had originally been using solicitors appointed by her insurers through her legal expense insurance policy. Unfortunately, they had placed her claim into the low value ‘Portal’ process, expecting to obtain compensation of between £1,000 to £25,000 for her.

Mrs V was concerned about the way her case was proceeding and, having been recommended to Ashtons Legal, she sought a second opinion from us and then transferred her claim.

We referred Mrs V for a private medical assessment. Recommendations for rehabilitation and support were made, which we were able to follow up on despite the other driver’s insurers refusal to assist. Instead, they chose to make her an offer of £50,000. On our advice, Mrs H rejected their offer and, having obtained the evidence required to assist with resolving the outstanding legal and medical issues, Court proceedings were commenced in the High Court.

We were able to secure further interim payments to assist with Mrs V’s treatment (and her general financial position), whilst we carried on with the Court process. During this time, a further offer followed from the Defendant insurer in the sum of £150,000 which, again, Mrs V rejected on our advice.

With a trial date set for late 2021, the Defendants saw sense and accepted Mrs V’s offer to settle her claim for the sum of £500,000.

Tom Ranson comments: “Mrs V felt uneasy about the direction her case was going in and the way her claim was going and wisely sought a second opinion before it was too late. We were then able to provide her with the specialist advice and support needed, which included referral to a number of leading medical experts. Armed with their evidence, we achieved a settlement for Mrs V which entirely vindicated her decision to change solicitors and to resist settling her claim for less. This is another case that could have been compromised for very little, instead Ashtons are delighted to have been able to secure a significant six-figure-sum for Mrs V.”