Our client was injured when she was a passenger in a motor vehicle driven by her father. She was 10 years old at the time and suffered shock and neck pain due to the accident.
As a result of her pain and depressed mood, our client suffered limitations with physical and sporting activities and consequently was not as happy and confident as she was before her accident. She didn’t socialise as much as she used to and felt different following her accident. Further, she suffered from nightmares and often thought about the car accident.
In order to gather the best possible medical evidence to prove the extent of our client’s potential losses into the future, we engaged three separate medico-legal experts to provide detailed reports. An orthopaedic surgeon to provide an opinion regarding our client’s physical injuries; a psychiatrist to provide an opinion on our client’s psychiatric injuries; and an occupational physician to obtain evidence regarding the impact to our client’s future ability to study and work.
Once the evidence was collected, we represented our client in settlement negotiations with the insurer in an attempt to resolve her matter before the need to proceed to court. Despite the best efforts of our expert lawyers and our client, the insurer did not offer an amount the we thought was reasonable in the circumstances. As such, we advised our client to proceed with her matter for hearing in the District Court of New South Wales.
Our client’s matter was prepared and presented in front of the court in June 2018. The evidence and submissions were introduced to the court over a 2-day period. When the district court judge provided his judgement, our client was very grateful to have accepted our advice as the judge awarded 5 x more than the insurer’s final offer before the hearing. Our client was very happy with the court’s verdict and the presentation of her matter in court by our lawyer and barrister.
Overall, our firm is fortunate to have been able to help our young client obtain a compensation payment that will provide assurance for her future.
The information is current as at the date of publication of this article. The above article is of a general nature only and does not constitute legal advice. Law Advice Compensation Lawyers are experts in car accident claims. For a free, no obligation assessment of your injury claim call us on 1800 122 555 or complete our Free Claim Advice Form and get the compensation you deserve.