Nelsons represented a child who suffered a brain injury after being involved in a serious road traffic accident. 

When he was 4 years old, X suffered a major head injury and a broken leg after being knocked down by a lorry 

His head injury led to changes in his personality and he had difficulty understanding things.

Needing 24 hour supervision and extra help at school, most people who came into contact with him did not understand the effect that a traumatic brain injury can have on a developing child and just regarded him as a naughty child with learning difficulties.

The brain injury meant that his family found it very difficult to cope with him at home and his school did not know how to overcome his problems. There was an urgent need to obtain some specialist input and assistance but neither the family nor the school had the means available to find or employ this help.

Pursuing the Brain Injury Compensation Claim

The family contacted Nelsons and although evidence from the police suggested the lorry driver could not have avoided the accident, we felt there was evidence from his tachograph that he may have been speeding.

• Nelsons obtained an accident reconstruction report which suggested that the lorry had indeed been speeding and that although X had run out in front of him, the driver would have been able to stop if he was travelling within the speed limit.

We commenced Court Proceedings and a few days before the hearing was due to take place, the lorry driver’s insurance company admitted the accident had been his fault.

• We then obtained a number of reports on X’s injuries and their effects following multi-disciplinary assessments by a number of experts. 
• This enabled us to make an application to the Court for an interim payment so that both X’s family and his school could get some specialist help to care for him and help him reach his full potential.

We were also keen to ensure that X’s long term needs would be met and began to obtain further multi-disciplinary reports when he was a little older to assess the long term effects of the injury.

The case concluded when the Court approved a settlement for £3 million which ensured that X would have financial security for the rest of his life.

Read more about the brain injury and road traffic accident cases that Nelsons handled by visiting our Personal Injury case studies page. 

For advice on pursuing a claim for compensation please contact a member of our Personal Injury team.