Man Suffers Spinal Injury In Australian Road Traffic Accident

Irwin Mitchell’s International Travel Litigation Team successfully settled a spinal injury overseas claim arising out of a road traffic accident which occurred in Melbourne, Australia, in 1998.

Our client, an English national, had travelled to Australia on business and he and a colleague hired a taxi to take them back to the airport for the return flight to the UK.

Whilst travelling on the Tullamarine Freeway in Melbourne the taxi driver lost control of the vehicle which came off the road, eventually colliding with a tree.  As a result of the accident our client sustained severe injuries including multiple bilateral rib fractures, ruptured spleen, and dislocation through the T11/12 intra-vertebral disc with an associated spinal cord injury.

As a result of the injury to the spinal cord our client sustained incomplete paraplegia. He required hospital treatment both in Australia and then on return to the UK and he remained an inpatient until June 1999. As a result of the injuries our client required much specialist equipment and his two homes required extensive modifications.

Our client brought his claim in the Australian state of Melbourne and recovered over $1,000,000 in compensation, which included reimbursement for the modifications to his two homes and compensation for his loss of earnings in his high paid job.  The claim settled at mediation without having to go to trial.

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