Thu, 23 Feb 2012
Cerys Edwards and her family were today awarded a payout comprising a lump sum of nearly £5m and periodical payments of £450,000 per annum for the rest of Cerys’ life from the insurers of a millionaire’s son whose dangerous driving left Cerys brain damaged and paralysed.
Paul Bleasdale QC, Head of No5 Chambers and an expert in Personal Injury cases, was instructed by Richard Langton of solicitors Russell Jones Walker to represent the Edwards’ family throughout their long legal battle.
One year old Cerys was travelling with her parents, Tracey and Gareth, in November 2006, when the family car was hit head-on by a Range Rover driven at over 70mph on the wrong side of a 30mph Sutton Coldfield street by 19-year-old Antonio Boparan.
Cerys suffered traumatic brain injury and spinal cord damage and her fight for survival has seen her undergo numerous operations and long spells in hospital and a rehabilitation centre.
Boparan was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2008 and served six months. Liability was never an issue and his insurance company made an interim payment of £800,000 to Cerys in 2008 towards the cost of the 24 hour care she requires and adaptations to her house – she is fed via a gastronomy tube and reliant on a ventilator and a round the clock team of trained carers.
Cerys Edwards’ case involved a number of difficult and unique legal and evidential challenges. These included the complexity of her medical needs and the nature and extent of the care regime envisaged necessary to maintain her survival and quality of life.
In the run up to the eight day trial commencing in the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday, Mr Boparan’s insurers, the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group agreed to settle the case.
The £450,000 per annum approved by Judge McKenna at Birmingham High Court today is an exceptionally high periodic payment and is index-linked to allow for fluctuations in wage bills for Cerys’ team of carers, who work shifts to ensure that she is safe and looked after all day, every day for the remainder of her life.
Anyone seeking more information should contact No5 Chambers on 0845 210 5555.
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