Ben Priestley at Serious Injury Law acted for a 64-year-old man named Joseph. A passing driver knocked him down outside a nursing home and he suffered serious spinal and head injuries.

The paramedics took Joseph to hospital in the south of his home town before they transferred him to another hospital in the north. Three months later, Joseph entered a nursing home with very little investigation of his injuries and without an after-care plan in place.

There were no witnesses to the accident and the driver of the car that hit Joseph maintained that Ben’s client had stepped off the pavement into the road. The view of a leading QC was that this was a difficult liability case, which could be lost if brought to trial.

Undeterred, Ben negotiated with the driver’s insurers to gain interim funding to appoint Joseph’s case manager. This funding also covered the costs of a physiotherapist, an adjustable chair on wheels to make Joseph more comfortable and a neuropsychological assessment to follow up on the head injury.

Ben commissioned an accident reconstruction report and liaised with various specialists to build the case for Joseph’s damages. The insurance company offered a settlement figure based on these reports, reduced only to reflect Joseph’s perceived contributory negligence and future life expectancy.

Whilst Ben considered this offer carefully, he felt that he could achieve a better outcome for Joseph.

Through a process of detailed negotiation, Joseph’s final settlement figure doubled the initial offer. The settlement was at the top end of what Joseph could have expected had the case gone to trial and been successful.

Ben was also successful in working with health professionals to secure a much-needed place for Joseph at a specialist spinal unit, to which Joseph’s GP had been unwilling to refer him at first.

Throughout the case, Joseph’s sister represented him in a role known as a ‘litigation friend’. She commented on the quality of Ben’s work:

“Ben has been absolutely brilliant and has fought tooth and nail to get the award for my brother. When we began the claim, I was very pessimistic about our chances, particularly when the QC told us that the case was unlikely to succeed.”

“My brother had been very much abandoned by the health system, and it was only because of Ben’s intervention that we managed to get a case manager appointed and started to see some progress.”

“Ben has been both lawyer and friend, always sympathetic and willing to take the time to explain things. He’s visited regularly and always been accessible on the phone too. You can tell that he really cares about getting the right result for his clients and that this is more than just a job to him.”

“I am so relieved and happy that my brother is now in the right place and is starting to make progress. The settlement was far above our expectations and has relieved my worries about the future and paying for all the things that my brother will need.”

“Having the right solicitor, who goes above and beyond the call of duty and who has the sensitivity and compassion for people, has made all the difference, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Ben Priestley and Serious Law to anyone with a serious injury.”

If you or someone you know would like to speak to our serious injury specialists about a pedestrian accident, please contact us today.

A few of the personal facts in this case have been changed to preserve the anonymity of our client.