Client of Irwin Mitchell LLP
Ed is married and has two children.
Ed is a design consultant who lives in Nottinghamshire, works in London and was driving home from a meeting in London on the M1 when an HGV lorry side-swiped his car into the path of another HGV near to the Watford Gap Services on Thursday 15th November 2018.
The M1 was closed for 3 hours and he was air lifted to Coventry University Hospital with brain damage and physical injuries which resulted in him being in hospital for 2 weeks.
Injuries
- Unable to speak or swallow.
- Severe brain injury.
- Bleed on the brain.
- Paralysis to my right arm.
- Dysphagia as well as Dysarthria
- Amnesia
- Bladder issues (neurogenic bladder)
- Silent Aspiration
Originally given the impression from Northamptonshire police that they would be prosecuting the driver Ed & his wife were notified that no further investigation or criminal proceedings would be undertaken by them.
Their car insurer referred Ed to their recommended legal team who managed the case for the first year but they struggled to get the defendants to admit liability.
During the first year his wife’s family funded Ed’s speech therapist and physiotherapist to help get Ed’s speech back.
Through a friend …. Ed met a former client of Irwin Mitchell who recommended we transfer to them (we didn’t know you could change representation) which Ed did and within 3 months of taking on their case the defendants finally admitted liability and Irwin Mitchell were able to obtain our first interim payment to fund Ed’s rehabilitation.
Irwin Mitchell arranged a rehabilitation programme with a Case Manager which included: -
- speech therapy
- urology
- opthamology
- physiotherapy
- occupational therapy
- psychological therapy
- counselling
The defendants’ legal representatives were very combative and not very proactive often letting them run low on funds before being chased to send more funds to enable Ed to continue his rehabilitation.
They had regular meetings about Ed’s medical prognosis and the process for making a claim against the logistics company.
They eventually settled April 2023 at their first Joint Settlement meeting at their Barrister’s offices in London.
Ed never wanted to stop working and believes as a Design Consultant who pushed himself to keep working as much as physically possible helped him and he still continues to work today.