By Fraser Barnstaple, Underwriter
(Estimated reading time: 1 minute 53 seconds)
Recently Tees Law (an expert law firm of ours), with the assistance of Temple disbursement funding and ATE insurance, helped a young child achieve a multi-million pound settlement in a tragic birth injury case. Below is a closer look at how the case unfolded.
XYZ’s family was referred to Tees in 2016, just a few months after XYZ was born. XYZ had suffered a skull fracture and brain injury at birth. Tees argued that that this resulted from his traumatic delivery and the negligent use of a single Wrigley’s forceps in delivery. Had delivery been managed competently, damage would have been avoided. Liability was denied – the defendant’s position was that the skull fracture was a result of impaction during delivery, not the mechanism of delivery.
The case was originally funded with Legal Aid but Tees’ application for Stage 2 funding (such that proceedings could be issued at Court) was refused by the LAA as, amongst other things, they had concerns regarding the merits of the claim, despite supportive expert evidence and Counsel’s advice. Tees therefore reached out to Temple and were able to proceed on a CFA supported by our ATE Insurance.
Shortly before a liability trial, at a JSM in July 2021, liability compromised at 70%.
Tees then proceeded to deal with Quantum. XYZ is now 7 years of age. His injuries include:
– mixed spastic and dystonic tetraparesis cerebral palsy, GMFCS II/III;
– cognitive impairment, including executive function difficulties;
– a complex array of neurobehavioral problems;
– expressive, receptive and pragmatic language difficulties and disordered speech, occurring in the context of complex sensory processing difficulties.
An RTM was held on 23 October (just 3 weeks before the quantum trial was listed) and subject to Court approval, quantum was compromised. The total settlement capitalised to over £17 million (based on a 67-year life expectancy).
We were grateful to be able to provide the client with both disbursement funding and ATE Insurance to assist Tees in ensuring him and his family found justice and financial support.
Thank you to Tees Law for their exceptional work on this case and for their permission to share this case study.
If you would like more information on our clinical negligence ATE insurance and disbursement funding, please call Fraser Barnstaple 01483 514414 or send an email to fraser.barnstaple@temple-legal.co.uk
Fraser Barnstaple
Senior Underwriter
01483 514414
Fraser Barnstaple
Fraser is a Senior Underwriter within the Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence and Commercial teams.
Fraser joined Temple in May 2022 following the completion of his LLM Laws degree at University College London. Before that, he graduated in 2021 with a First-Class LLB Law (Hons) degree from the University of Leicester. Alongside his role at Temple, he currently studies part-time at City, University of London on the Bar Vocational Studies course with the assistance of various scholarships.
Fraser’s academic background has given him a vast knowledge base in numerous areas of law, which allows him to be versatile in dealing with whatever legal issues may arise. He strives to provide support throughout the legal process through a speedy, efficient and accurate underwriting service.
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