The High Court in Birmingham, West Midlands, has heard how interim compensation payments have been paid to the family of a car crash victim to provide medical care while a final settlement for their car crash claim was being negotiated.
Judge Martin McKenna was approving a compensation settlement for Cerys Edwards (6) from Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, who suffered catastrophic brain damage when her family´s car was on a head-on collision with a driver travelling at 70mph on a road with a 30mph speed limit. Cerys, who was just eleven months old when the accident occurred in November 2006, cannot now breathe without a ventilator, has undergone a dozen operations and requires around-the-clock care.
The negligent driver was jailed in 2008 for causing the accident, at which point negotiations started between the Edwards´ legal representatives and the negligent driver´s insurers to finalise a suitable and appropriate car crash claim settlement that would provide care for Cerys for the rest of her life. While negotiations were ongoing, the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group paid over 4 million pounds in interim compensation payments to help support the Edwards family and little Cerys.
The judge heard that a final settlement in respect of the Edwards´ car crash claim had been agreed, with the family receiving a lump sum payment of almost 5 million pounds (less the amount received in interim compensation payments) with annual payments of 4450,000 pounds providing care for Cerys as long as she lives. Approving the settlement, Judge Martin McKenna said that it was “one of the saddest cases he had ever come across”.