£38,000 awarded after accident involving cherry picker | Case Study

The claimant was awarded damages of £38,000.00 for pain, suffering and loss of amenity after suffering multiple injuries when he fell from a cherry picker in an accident at work.

Accident circumstances

The male claimant was aged 25 at the time of the accident. He was standing on the elevating platform of a cherry picker which collapsed and threw him onto the concrete floor below.

Details of injury

The claimant sustained a fracture to his skull and a wound to the back of his head. The wound was stitched but left a permanent scar within his hairline. He was disorientated in the short period after the accident and was diagnosed as suffering with post-traumatic amnesia.

He went on to suffer with daily headaches which would last for up to four hours at a time. These continued for some eight months after the accident before the frequency of them began to lessen. He received treatment from his GP for these and it was expected that they would stop after two to three years.

The claimant also fractured his lower jaw which needed plating. The surgery caused a laceration to his cheek which then left a scar 1.5 centimetres long when it had healed.

There was also some damage to the claimants teeth with a gap forming at his canine tooth. The surgery to his jaw had also resulted in scars within his mouth and some of his teeth being particularly sensitive. He experienced numbness and tingling in the area which sometimes led to him dribbling liquids.

The claimants sense of smell was totally lost after the accident and his sense of taste was badly affected. He suffered with slight tinnitus and obscure auditory dysfunction.

Having undergone neurological examination it was reported that there was a high risk that the claimant may develop post-traumatic epilepsy. The risk would reduce over a period of ten years and by ten years after the accident date the risk would be 0.5 percent.

Conclusion

An agreement between the parties could not be reached and so a court award was made of £38,000 for pain, suffering and loss of amenity. This was awarded on a provisional basis until 10 years post accident as the risk of post-traumatic epilepsy was disregarded.