Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
27/06/2023
£834,000 settlement for a 44-year-old headteacher who developed FND 6 months after being involved in a high energy and distressing road accident. Causation was denied. Marcus represented the Claimant.
She sustained soft tissue injuries in the accident, the pain from which became progressively more difficult to endure. It was accompanied by PTSD and symptoms of depression in a previously high functioning woman who, objectively had a stressful job in attempting to turn around a failing school.
6 months after the accident she began to present with tremors in her right arm. Subsequently these spread to the contralateral limb and to her legs to the point where she used a wheelchair for some of the time.
She was unable to return to her teaching role and her symptoms became entrenched.
The Defendant sought to identify alternative stressors in her life, principally in her work life in having to cope with the pressure of OFSTED criticism and to difficulties in her married life as alternative more persuasive explanations for her descent into a FND presentation.
The Defendant’s lead expert suggested that there was a subconscious acceptance by the Claimant of her symptoms as a welcome escape from her stressful life.
There was significant dispute also about the prognosis of her enduring symptoms past the 5th anniversary of the accident.
There was a wide gulf between the parties’ approach to, and quantification of the claim. The settlement reflected a degree of movement from both parties from their best cases, following a JSM
