Seven-figure settlement for man left with severe brain injury after work accident

Specialist serious personal injury and medical negligence solicitor Daniel Green has secured a seven-figure settlement for a man who was seriously injured in a work accident while employed as a roofing inspector for JHH Engineering.

Mr Pat Lynch, aged 56 at the time of the accident, was injured on 1 December 2014 when he was working on the roof of a primary school in East London.

Pat either fell from the roof or from a ladder he had used to gain access to the roof, which was approximately 3 metres high. There were no witnesses to the accident. Pat was found lying unconscious on the ground by a member of staff after his accident.

Pat was immediately taken by ambulance to the Royal London Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a very severe brain injury. He had no recollection of what happened to him.

He remained in the hospital for two months until he was discharged on 27 January 2015. However, while he was still in the hospital, he fell from his bed as a result of a failure by the hospital’s nursing staff to ensure that the bed rails on his bed were kept upright. As a result of this fall, he sustained another head injury.

Pat’s wife, Jackie, initially sought advice from a law firm local to their home in Newbury. They advised Jackie that because there were no witnesses to his accident at work, it was unlikely that any claim against his employer would succeed. Instead, they told Jackie that any compensation claim should focus on Pat’s fall from his hospital bed.

A chance encounter with Daniel Green’s father, a friend of the family, led to Jackie seeking a second opinion from Novum Law. At this point, Pat was receiving brain injury rehabilitation at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Daniel’s expert advice to Jackie was to focus on the accident at work compensation claim because if that accident had not occurred in the first place, Pat would not have found himself in hospital.

Further, the fall from his hospital bed may not have caused his neurological disabilities, given that it was already clear he had sustained a severe brain injury at the time of his accident at work.

Making the brain injury claim

Daniel pursued the compensation claim against four defendants:

1. JHH Engineering
2. Kier Facilities Services Limited (providing facilities management to the school)
3. Superior Roofing & Building Services Limited (engaged by Kier to carry out roofing works at the school)
4. Barts Health NHS Trust (the Trust responsible for the Royal London Hospital).

Liability for Pat’s accident at work was denied throughout the claim. While the Trust accepted it had been negligent in allowing Pat to fall from his hospital bed, it denied that the fall had caused or contributed to his neurological injuries.

The situation was complicated further when Superior Roofing entered into administration before the start of Court proceedings. Their insurers refused to deal with the claim because they had not been provided with any prior notification of the claim by Superior Roofing. They argued that they had been released from any liability under the terms of the relevant insurance policy.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, the solicitors representing JHH Engineering and Kier eventually conceded that Pat’s significant injuries were the result of his initial accident at work. However, they continued to argue the accident was not caused by negligence on the part of their respective clients and that the accident was instead caused entirely by Pat’s negligence.

Despite repeated denials of liability, the parties subsequently agreed to attend a joint settlement meeting at which a seven-figure settlement was reached on Pat’s behalf. The High Court approved the compensation in July 2019.

If you, or a loved one, has been seriously injured in an accident at work or has suffered negligent medical care, please get in touch. Call Novum Law on Freephone 0800 884 0777, email: info@novumlaw.com or complete the enquiry form on this page.