Law firm secures record settlement for client
Enable Law, the specialist personal injury, mental capacity and medical negligence law firm based in Bristol, has secured a record-high £27.4m settlement for a client who suffered life-changing brain injuries when she was hit by a car.
The firm said it has ensured its client’s future needs will be met for the rest of her life after initially rejecting settlement offers of £1.5m and £10m from the defendant’s insurers.
Bristol-based Enable Law partner Huw Ponting, who heads the firm’s personal injury team, and Sue Stoll, a senior solicitor who specialises in brain injuries, led the compensation claim, expressed mixed emotions after finalising the settlement.
“This feels like a bitter-sweet victory,” Ponting said.
“Our hearts go out to our client because her life has been shattered and that is incredibly sad but her desperately sad plight has also motivated our team to fight her corner.
“It is pleasing that the trust placed in Enable Law to ensure she wants for nothing for the rest of her life has been vindicated by our painstaking drive to do the right thing.
“For Enable Law securing a settlement of this magnitude for a client with no catastrophic physical injuries but life-changing cognitive ones is unprecedented but most importantly it will ensure a framework is put in place for our client to live as well as she possibly can for the rest of her life.”
Enable Law was instructed to take over the case after the intervention of the client’s case manager who was supporting the family of the client who is the subject of a strict anonymity order to protect her identity and future welfare.
Commenting on the outcome of the case, Stoll added: “Through no fault of her own, our client’s life has been devastated by the catastrophic brain injury she suffered due to a motorist’s carelessness.
“No amount of money will ever make up for the impact of the accident on our client. However, this settlement ensures that she has financial security for her lifetime care and rehabilitation needs so she can maximise her independence and quality of life.
“Substantial interim payments have already been made during the course of the claim but the final £27.4m settlement accounts for life-long needs and was agreed by the defendants following expert evidence delivered by specialists from an array of fields.”
These included experts in neurological rehabilitation, neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry, endocrinology, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, care and occupational therapy, assistive technology and accommodation as well as two court of protection experts in finance and affairs and health and welfare.
Enable Law’s specialist personal injury, mental capacity and medical negligence legal team has more than 90 members in offices in London, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter, Southampton, Plymouth and Truro.
