Mr AW was 16 years of age when he was involved in a very serious motor vehicle accident in Liverpool. He was making his way across a very busy intersection. He saw his bus at the nearby bus stop, so he ran across the road to make the bus. He had crossed two lanes, halfway across the road when he was struck by a four-wheel-drive travelling at approximately 50 km/hour. He was propelled approximately 15 metres into a busy intersection. The vehicle, that hit him, was unable to stop and continued through the intersection collecting AW underneath its body where AW was trapped underneath the front wheel when the vehicle finally came to a stop.
Needless to say, AW's injuries were extremely significant where he suffered fractures to his legs, hip and arms. The injuries were so severe that skin grafts needed to be taken and he needed to be treated for burns suffered from the hot exhaust pipes underneath the vehicle.
There were numerous witness accounts that identified our client running across the intersection against the pedestrian lights. Ordinarily, liability for instances such as this would be in the favour of the vehicle because the pedestrian had failed to cross with care and wait for the lights to be green.
Gerard Malouf and Partners submitted that the bus was picking up school children in the morning and ought to have had the school zone lights flashing behind it, converting the area to a 40 km/hour school zone. AW had already crossed more than halfway across the road. A driver who was keeping a proper lookout heading towards an intersection at 40km/hr ought to have seen AW so as to avoid the collision.
We were able to negotiate with the insurer to agree to a Section 81 notice, certificate in relation to liability, with an admission of contributory negligence on behalf of AW to 25%.However, following receipt of an Exemption Certificate and the matter being filed in the Court, the Defence pleaded a complete denial of liability.
Although, the incident was quite horrific, so much so that it caused AW's mother to suffer from a nervous shock injury when she attended upon the scene, he was fortunate to recover well. He was able to continue with his HSC studies with little to no detriment. He was able to recover from his psychological injuries. Medical assessment by independent medical examiners assessed his physical and psychological injuries to be less than 10% whole person impairment.
Nevertheless, we were able to negotiate on AW's behalf a settlement amount of $111,000.00 plus costs as agreed or assessed, where it was agreed in amount of $35,000.00 with a notation that contributory negligence is agreed to be 33 and 1/3%.
Considering the facts and AW’s recovery, this was an excellent resolution as it amounted to $166,666.00 at full freight.
This result was only able to be achieved because of the experience and expertise of the solicitors at Gerard Malouf and Partners.
