We are acting for a young man (now aged 17) who was involved in a road accident in Gloucester during May 2007. His parents had consulted another solicitor and were told that their son did not have a personal injury claim and they had come to our firm for a second opinion. This was a difficult case. Our client (who was then aged 13) and two of his friends were crossing a busy road. His two friends managed to cross the road on foot safely but when our client followed a short time later on his bicycle, he was struck by an oncoming car. Sadly, he suffered a severe head injury. In our view, blame attached to both the driver and our client for what had happened. The driver had been driving too fast in the circumstances given the congested area with children about but our client had emerged from between stationary traffic into the path of this driver without checking that it was safe to do so. A letter of claim was submitted to the driver’s insurers who disputed liability. Proceedings had to be issued at the Bristol District Registry. An early offer of 25%/75% in the driver’s favour was made but was rejected. After a number of further offers and counter offers we were able to apportion liability on a 38.5%/61.5% basis in the driver’s favour giving our client 38.5% of full liability damages. His damages will now need to be assessed.
The terms of this settlement were approved by the Judge at Bristol District Registry on the 13 April 2011.
