What happened?
In December 2020, Helen a 63-year-old lady from Cornwall, was walking her dog when she was hit by a car. Waking up in hospital, she had no memory of what happened to her and was told she had been found unconscious on the road by passers-by who called an ambulance. She later found out that an uninsured drunk driver had run into her before crashing his own car further down the road. The driver was arrested and given a jail sentence.
Helen’s injuries were multiple. She had sustained a moderate-severe traumatic brain injury, several spinal fractures, a broken foot, a chest injury and psychological injuries. Once she felt well enough, Helen appointed Enable Law to bring a personal injury claim on her behalf.
Before the accident, Helen was an active and energetic person who ran her own business alongside being a published author of several books and running a holiday rental cottage. She enjoyed being busy and had no plans to retire. The same energy and commitment was applied to her rehabilitation after the accident. Supported by her two daughters, she managed to keep her business and holiday cottage up and running during the time it took her to start finding her feet again.
What did we do to support her?
As the driver that hit Helen was uninsured, we could not bring a claim against his insurers. Even though he had been found and convicted, he did not have any significant assets under his name so had we pursued a claim against him, we would not have been able to recover the funds Helen needed to fund her rehabilitation, therapies and time off work. For that reason, we submitted a claim to the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), the organisation that provides compensation to road traffic incident victims caused by uninsured or untraced drivers.
During the course of the claim, we were able to secure interim payments for Helen which allowed her to appoint a case manager and have a range of therapies on a private basis including physiotherapy, neuropsychology treatment and psychological therapies to maximise her recovery.
As a result, and due to her determination to not let the accident define her, she has made an excellent recovery from very serious injuries but continues, and will continue, to have lifelong problems with fatigue, minor impairment of cognitive function and back pain. The medical experts that reviewed her injuries and recovery progress advised that as she gets older, she may need additional surgery on her foot and will likely need help with activities involving bending. Despite her incredible progress she will have to continue reconditioning exercises like pilates and physiotherapy. These were all factored in when making her claim to ensure that the money recovered for Helen will be enough to cover these needs as and when they arise.
Likewise, we successfully claimed funds to make adaptations to Helen’s house to ensure that as she ages, and the impact of her injuries is not as easy to manage, she will have everything she needs in place to limit her pain. All these provisions, alongside the pain and suffering she experienced because of her injury, meant we were able to secure a six figure settlement
