Ellisons represented a claimant who was left with multiple serious injuries following an accident at work on a farm, helping them to recover a seven-figure sum in compensation.
Our client was stacking +200kg hay bales whilst working alone on a farm when one of the towers of bales toppled and fell on to him, trapping him for over an hour and cause him to sustain a serious spinal cord injury as well as other injuries.
The farm owners admitted liability for requiring the Claimant to work in unsafe conditions and without adequate training or support.
As a result of the accident, the Claimant suffered multiple spinal fractures, a spinal cord injury with numerous permanent symptoms and other limb fractures. He also suffered a serious deterioration in his mental health.
During the 4-year case, Ellisons Solicitors were able to secure an early admission of liability from the Defendant, private physical and psychological rehabilitation treatment and significant interim payments which helped the Claimant through the most difficult period of their life.
Despite initial strong resistance from the farm’s insurer, Ellisons managed to secure funds which allowed the Claimant to be fitted with an experimental spinal neurostimulator system, which involved the implanting of a modulator device. The spinal stimulator greatly reduced the Claimant’s spinal pain and assisted significantly with the Claimant’s rehabilitation, giving him back a huge amount of independence and relieving around 90% of his upper limb pain. Ellisons ensured that the Defendant’s insurance company funded these payments. Without the benefit of specialist legal advice, it is quite possible that the Claimant would have not received this greatly required medical intervention and the future costs of maintaining and replacing the implant device.
Despite the Claimant’s committed efforts to engage with the rehabilitative treatment, they will be left with ongoing disabilities which continue to impact on their daily life and which will prevent them from ever returning to work.
Stevan Stratton, Partner and Head of Ellisons’ Injury Services team said:
“It was a real privilege to represent this client. Despite having been the victim of a terrible workplace accident, leaving them trapped for a long time and believing that they were going to be left to die, this client showed incredible understanding, patience and resolve. They were also able to rely upon the steadfast love and support of their partner and I was absolutely thrilled to be able to achieve such a good result for them, so that they can now try to move on with their life together and try and get back to the plans that they had been making before this accident.”
The Client added the following comment:
“Stevan has helped me so much through these past four years, he explained everything clearly to me, he reassured me over and over that everything was going well with the claim. He arranged for me to have sessions with top therapists to help me get through the trauma of the accident. In so many ways he helped me to get through each day and each new problem which occurred. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to him and the team at Ellisons”. “
Settlement was eventually reached via negotiations at a Joint Settlement Meeting (JSM) between the parties. The path to settlement was not easy. Liability was accepted at an early stage by the Defendant, but the Defendant raised issues in relation to the causation of the Claimant’s injuries and his future prognosis, which complicated the route towards quantifying the claim.
After each side had obtained expert evidence from 7 expert witnesses across various fields including neurosurgery, neuro-urology and chronic pain, the parties were at an impasse as most of the Defendant’s medical experts appeared unwilling to accept that the Claimant’s severe life-long injury would increase his need for additional care in the future or that there was a risk of his spinal condition deteriorating.
Prior to the JSM the Defendant initially proposed a lower 6-figure sum of settlement. The parties then met at the JSM and, following a full day of negotiations, a 7-figure settlement sum was agreed, much to the relief of the Claimant.
Our client had to instruct and rely on the expert opinion of 7 different expert witnesses here. Furthermore, the Defendant challenged our client’s case at various junctures, including when he was seeking a 5-figure sum to fund the successful spinal stimulator treatment and when denying that his injuries would cause any additional future care requirements. As such, it is very unlikely that the Claimant would have achieved this outcome had he not sought early expert advice for a legal specialist.
The Ellisons’ Injury Services team is available to guide you through the process of reviewing your claim, securing private medical treatment and rehabilitation wherever needed and to recover the compensation you are entitled to.
