Our serious injury solicitors helped an injured man make a claim against the insurers of a driver who drove into the back of his car.

In February 2016, Steve* was travelling south on the M1. He had to slow down and stop behind a queue of stationary cars when he noticed a HGV behind him approaching very fast. Steve realised that the van was going too fast to stop a safe distance behind him. He tried to move his car out the way, but the van smashed into the back of Steve’s car.

The impact made Steve pass out and he came around when the ambulance had already arrived. Steve had to be cut out of his car and the paramedics rushed him to hospital.

At the hospital, Steve had a brain scan and doctors told him everything was fine and he could go home that evening.

Over the next few days, Steve suffered from headaches, severe neck pain and shoulder pain. Doctors gave him pain killers and told him he would get better in a few days.

Full Diagnosis And Brain Surgery

In June 2016, Steve started experiencing numbness and tingling in his hand and elbow. He went to A&E and doctors advised that he have a further brain scan to check everything was ok. From the scan, doctors told Steve that he had chronic subdural haematoma (a collection of blood on the brain’s surface).

Steve had to have immediate surgery to get rid of the blood on his brain. After surgery, Steve’s symptoms didn’t improve and he had to have further brain surgery in August 2016.

Over the next few months, Steve’s symptoms slowly started getting better but his injuries had affected his ability to do his job.

Steve worked as in an executive role for an international company. His work meant travelling across Europe and doing long hours at the office.

After his accident, Steve was off work for 18 months. When he eventually returned, he had to reduce his hours because his symptoms from the accident made him extremely tired. This meant he couldn’t function at a high level for long periods of time which his job required him to do. He also had problems with his memory and found it hard to keep to normal sleeping patterns.

How We Helped

Steve contacted his insurers to see if he could make a claim against the insurers of the driver who crashed into him. Steve’s insurers put him in touch with a law firm through Legal Expense Insurance.

This law firm started a claim for up to £10,000. After everything Steve had gone through, this amount didn’t feel like enough. The firm also told Steve that he should fund his rehabilitation himself.

Steve had experienced two brain surgeries and had suffered large financial losses because he couldn’t work. His injuries had also affected his family life - he had to rely on his wife for care and assistance and he couldn’t do many activities with his daughters.

Steve contacted our serious injury team to see if he could change solicitors. Laura Middleton-Guerard, an expert serious injury lawyer, examined Steve’s case and knew he could get a higher settlement.

Laura took over Steve’s claim and worked quickly to get him interim payments over £300,000. Interim payments can help pay for medical treatment and rehabilitation while a claim is ongoing.

Laura also arranged expert medical assessments for Steve. These assessments helped strengthen Steve’s claim to show he had suffered from a traumatic brain injury and would need rehabilitation and ongoing medical support.

Although the insurers of the driver had admitted responsibility, they wouldn’t settle on a final compensation amount. Steve’s claim was set to go to court.

Steve needed a settlement that would be enough to support him and his family in future. Laura kept negotiating with the insurers and she kept rejecting their offers that were too low. In the end, Laura successfully negotiated a seven-figure settlement in June 2020 thanks to the strength of the medical evidence.

The settlement took into account Steve’s past and future medical needs and his past and future loss of earnings.

Steve said “this whole ordeal had been incredibly traumatic for me and my family. I’ve had to rely on my wife for so many things and I’ve felt at a complete loss. This settlement is very good news at last and I’m so thankful to Laura for taking over and supporting me through this.”

Laura also added, “[Steve] has been through a lot and his accident had affected his entire life. I’m glad we could push the insurers for a much higher settlement that can now support [Steve] and his family and give him a sense of justice and importantly, closure.”

If you feel your current solicitors aren’t supporting you properly, you might be able to change solicitors. Call us on 0370 1500 100 to discuss your situation.

*Not client’s real name

Back to Client Stories