$XY compensation for spinal disk Injuries and broken arm following MVA
Lawyers win $XY for a 35-year-old woman who suffered a spinal disk injury in a motor vehicle crash.
Injuries: Spinal disk injury, broken arm.
The claimant was driving on Kangaroo Avenue, near Busselton, when a Kangaroo came hopping into the road. She swerved to avoid the animal but struck a tree on the side of the road. The impact was so severe that her pet parrot was killed from the force of the collision. The claimant was rushed to the hospital where she underwent surgery for her broken arm and spinal fusion surgery.
Follow-up treatment
The surgery was only partially successful and after theatre, the claimant still had to undergo six months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation to learn how to walk again. Progress is slow and after less than a year she has only regained 50% use of her legs and arms.
Lifestyle impact
The claimant has not been able to return to work and has had to give up her vibrant, pre-accident lifestyle in which she was active as a tennis player and socially every Friday night at the bingo club. She relies on her partner for simple tasks such as bathing and is unable to stand for long periods and cook or clean the home.
At this stage, it is still too early to know whether her back injuries will gradually improve or whether she will remain incapacitated at her current state of disability.
Final Compensation Settlement
The court ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to $XY compensation as she had been severely affected by the accident that could have been avoided. It was established that the Kangaroo killed at the scene of the accident had come from a nearby farm and had been able to escape the farm through a hole in a fence running alongside Kangaroo Avenue.
In addition, while at court in Perth, car accident lawyers were able to prove that the local municipality was found to be negligent having not heeded multiple requests from residents of the area to cut down the tree where the collision occurred following a series of accidents on that corner of the road.
Had the tree not been present, the claimant’s vehicle would, in all probability, have come to a gradual stop in the field with no adverse trauma suffered as was the impact of the sudden collision with the tree.
