Accidents which befall British citizens whilst holidaying abroad can give rise to legal complications. However, in one case, lawyers representing a woman who suffered life-changing injuries in a road accident in Portugal negotiated a settlement of her claim worth almost £1.5 million.
The woman was crossing the road in a tourist resort with her husband when they were struck by a car driven by a local motorist. Her husband died from his injuries two weeks later. She sustained damage to the frontal lobes of her brain, which blighted all aspects of her life, and serious orthopaedic injuries from which she had made a good, but not complete, recovery.
Following prolonged proceedings against the driver’s Portuguese insurers, he was ruled 80 per cent responsible for the accident. Settlement terms were agreed whereby the woman received £1,482,123 in respect of her injuries and her loss of dependency on her husband. The couple’s two adult children, who suffered psychiatric injury as a result of witnessing the accident, also received payments of £29,638 and £28,238. The High Court approved the settlement.