Damages of £250,000 secured for woman who suffered stroke after crash

Our client was a passenger in a car that was struck from behind on the notorious Kingsway stretch of the A90 at Dundee.

She suffered a whiplash injury so severe that it resulted in her suffering a stroke eight days later with reduction in speech, lost vision in her left eye and her mobility was affected.

Sadly, what started as an apparent minor whiplash injury resulted in a three week hospital stay where, after an MRI, medics found that she suffered a stroke.

“It wasn’t me who considered legal help – it was my daughter.

“One day she came into hospital to visit me while I was still an inpatient and told me that she’d contacted Digby Brown for help.

“Actually, that’s not quite true – she contacted Chris Stewart directly after researching who the experts were in certain fields.

“It was a surprise my daughter helped in the way she did but it was also a welcome one as it turned out to be one of the biggest and most important decisions that impacted my life.”

After completing an intensive physiotherapy programme, our client met with Chris Stewart at an appointment at Digby Brown’s office in Dundee.

At this meeting, Chris explained the legal process and pointed out the different ways that a personal injury claim could help our client.

She duly agreed to the no win, no fee process and was put in touch with Kirsty O’Donnell who would oversee the investigation of her road traffic accident compensation claim.

But as well as legal support, Kirsty was also able to secure funds to help our client access counselling – not just to deal with the trauma of the crash but to help her adjust to a new way of living due to her restricted mobility, home adaptations such as a walk-in bath and sadly the likely inability to ever again hold a full time job.

“I’ve never had to make a claim for anything before – in fact, I’ve never had to go through any kind of legal process before – so I had no idea what to expect.

“My daughter was simply adamant that someone had to be held accountable for the stroke I suffered as a result of the accident.

“Kirsty was completely open about everything that was happening. She explained things clearly, repeated anything I wasn’t sure of and what was best was that I never once had to call her – she always called me and kept me up to speed.

“Nothing was sugar-coated and there's so much goes on behind the scenes that people don't realise but it's clear it's all being done.

“I felt personally taken care of.”

At Digby Brown we fully investigate both the circumstances of an accident and the future impacts it has.

During her investigations Kirsty consulted leading medical experts to gather evidence that helped build a successful argument that our client’s stroke was caused by the accident.

By gathering this kind of medical evidence, Kirsty was then able to calculate our client’s losses – which included wage loss, compensation for her injury, any help and assistance that she may require in the future and private treatment costs.

At the start of the claim the insurance company for the driver who rear-ended our client offered a compensation settlement of just £10,000.

But after Digby Brown gathered the right – and required – evidence the claim settled for 25 times that amount to the tune of £250,000.

Because a life-changing accident deserves a life-changing settlement.

“I never would have done anything like this if it wasn't for the support of my family.

“What was also a huge relief was that this was all done without having to go to court – everything was done quickly and smoothly.

“Me and my partner thought our whole lives were going to be worsened forever – that we’d live a hand to mouth existence – but we’re now able to continue with our plans to get married like we intended.

“What I’ve learned is that Digby Brown really does make a difference and a person cannot possibly consider legal help without first contacting this firm.

“I’d just like to finally thank Kirsty and Chris for all their help – I owe you so much and can’t thank you enough.”