Enable Law secures record settlement

The Southwest-headquartered firm has ensured its client’s future needs will be met for the rest of her life after initially rejecting settlement offers of £1.5 million and £10 million from the defendant’s insurers.

Bristol-based Enable Law partner Huw Ponting, who heads the firm’s personal injury team, and Sue Stoll, a senior solicitor who specialises in brain injuries, led the compensation claim, expressed mixed emotions after finalising the settlement. Huw said "This feels like a bitter-sweet victory. Our hearts go out to our client because her life has been shattered and that is incredibly sad but her desperately sad plight has also motivated our team to fight her corner. It is pleasing that the trust placed in Enable Law to ensure she wants for nothing for the rest of her life has been vindicated by our painstaking drive to do the right thing. For Enable Law securing a settlement of this magnitude for a client with no catastrophic physical injuries but life-changing cognitive ones is unprecedented but most importantly it will ensure a framework is put in place for our client to live as well as she possibly can for the rest of her life."

Enable Law was instructed to take over the case after the intervention of the client's case manager who was supporting the family of the client who is the subject of a strict anonymity order to protect her identity and future welfare. Commenting on the outcome of the case, Sue added "Through no fault of her own, our client’s life has been devastated by the catastrophic brain injury she suffered due to a motorist’s carelessness. No amount of money will ever make up for the impact of the accident on our client. However, this settlement ensures that she has financial security for her lifetime care and rehabilitation needs so she can maximise her independence and quality of life."

Substantial interim payments have already been made during the course of the claim but the final £27.4 million settlement accounts for life-long needs and was agreed by the defendants following expert evidence delivered by specialists from an array of fields. These included experts in neurological rehabilitation, neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry, endocrinology, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, care and occupational therapy, assistive technology and accommodation as well as two court of protection experts in finance and affairs and health and welfare.

Huw continued "Our clients’ welfare is at the heart of absolutely everything we do at Enable Law. Our brain injury team is well placed to support clients with very complex needs and being supported by specialist in-house mental capacity and education lawyers mean we are able to support our clients at all stages of their life. We have done our client proud since we took over the case from the family’s previous legal representatives and secured Enable Law’s highest ever personal injury settlement. After the defendant’s insurers admitted liability, we rejected settlement offers of £1.5 million and £10 million because we have always been determined to make sure all of our client's future needs were met and the £27.4 million settlement vindicates our approach. We thought outside the box for our client, assembling a multi-disciplinary team who produced innovative and groundbreaking legal work."

Enable Law’s solicitors spearheaded the case after care professionals recommended that the client’s family change their legal representatives and secure the services of specialist brain injury solicitors due to the complexities of the case. Huw added "Whilst we are satisfied with the outcome of the litigation this case has brought to the fore an important issue. While it is understandable that families whose lives are turned upside down by circumstances beyond their control may turn to the first port in a proverbial storm, that move is not irreversible. This case has proved that not all solicitors are the same and that our client would not have achieved the same outcome had they remained with law firm that first led their case. It demonstrates that people affected by personal injury should be very diligent when seeking legal advice and remember they can change lawyers if they are unhappy, so they secure the specialist legal representation their specific circumstances deserve."

Enable Law’s specialist personal injury, mental capacity and medical negligence legal team has more than 90 members in offices in London, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter, Southampton, Plymouth and Truro.