We acted for Miss Ashley Djemal in a claim for damages following a road traffic accident in which the defendant collided with the rear of Miss Djemal's vehicle.

The other party disputed the amount of compensation was owed to Miss Djemal and the case went to trial at St Albans County Court.

What we did

During the course of our investigations we obtained an initial medical report from a general practitioner. This report identified the type of injury suffered by our client, and gave a prognosis, or a prediction, as to when a full recovery would be made. 

Sadly, Miss Djemal did not recover in line with the original prognosis, so we arranged for a further examination by more specialist expert - an orthopaedic surgeon. Whilst awaiting this report we recovered an interim payment for Miss Djemal, paying some of her financial losses.

The second expert's report gave an updated opinion and prognosis on the injuries sustained, and Miss Djemal advised that she wanted to settle her claim.

We entered into negotiations with the negligent party's insurers, but their offers were far too low and so we issued court proceedings. At the final trial Miss Djemal was awarded over 50% more than the defendant's best offer.

Background

Our client suffered injury to her neck, right shoulder and right arm as a result of the road traffic accident. Whilst it seemed initially that the injuries would be fairly short-lived, Miss Djemal's recovery actually took longer than expected.

It was necessary to get two separate specialist reports from relevant medical experts, and then, once court proceedings were issued, we also prepared a detailed statement setting Miss Djemal's claim, and in particular the impact the injuries had had on her day-to-day activities and hobbies.

In addition, a detailed schedule of the financial losses suffered was prepared, and all of this evidence was submitted to the defendant's solicitors and the court.

The defendant made an offer after the issue of court proceedings, but this was still some way below our valuation of the claim. We obtained instructions from Miss Djemal, and she was happy to continue on with the proceedings, and the case was then heard by a judge at St Albans County Court.

We instructed an experienced barrister to attend court and represent Miss Djemal at the hearing, giving the barrister all of the required information with which to fight the case.       

Outcome

At trial, the judge valued the claim significantly over what the defendant had offered, the final award being more than 50% over and above the defendant's figure.  

Judgment was awarded in full in favour of our client and the other party was also ordered to pay our full legal costs. Miss Djemal received 100% of her compensation as awarded by the judge at court.

The case is now being reported on Lawtel, a leading online tool for legal research.

Case handler

Sally Thompson is a case handler in the personal injury department. She acts mainly on behalf of claimants and deals with a wide range of injuries and case scenarios, specialising in the court process and taking cases to trial.

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