Settlement in Road Traffic Accident Claim with Complex Brain Injury & Psychiatric Overlap

Dean Wilson LLP have recently been able to settle a claim with complex injuries following a Road Traffic Accident.

The Case

In the index accident, the Claimant was involved in a collision where they had to take evasive action while on their Vespa after the Defendant failed to heed their presence when pulling from a side road. Liability was admitted early by the Defendant and engaged in early rehabilitation funding via interim payments.

The Claimant was admitted to hospital with a large laceration to their head and damage to their jaw. They were discharged home but 5 weeks later, suffered a severe episode of psychosis which led to them having to be sectioned and admitted back to Hospital.

On further imaging it was noted that the Claimant suffered from micro-haemorrhages which were caused by the index accident and there were questions raised about whether the Claimant had suffered post-TBI psychosis.

The Claimant’s recovery was very slow following this initial episode and questions later arose as to whether the Claimant was suffering from bipolar disorder and the Defendant questioned whether this was causative of the accident or not or whether this was something the Claimant would have developed in any event.

It was agreed by both sides that the Claimant had recovered well from the TBI element of the injury and the question as to the Claimant’s long-term future lay in the views of the neuropsychiatry evidence and the question around the Claimant’s psychiatric condition, what that condition was and whether it was causative or not to the index accident.

This required a deep dive consideration of the medical literature in respect of bipolar disorder and the risks associated with developing the same following an acquired brain injury. It was the Claimant’s case that this was not bipolar disorder, but if it was bipolar would not have developed and the TBI materially contributed to the development of any bipolar disorder. The Defendant’s case was that they would have developed bipolar disorder within a couple of months of the index accident as they were already constitutionally disposed to developing bipolar in their lifetime and thus no future losses in the claim attached.

The Result

The Parties subsequently met for a joint settlement meeting in July 2025 to see whether settlement could be achieved and after a full day of negotiations, the Parties reached settlement on a significant six figure settlement to bring the litigation to a conclusion which reflected the risks both sides had in establishing their respective cases.

The Claimant was represented by Alex Brown and Lyubov Nicolchova at Dean Wilson and expertly assisted by Counsel, Perrin Gibbons of Deka Chambers.

Get in touch with our personal injury team

If you or a loved one has been injured in a road traffic accident, please don’t hesitate to contact our personal injury team to discuss your case.

Our expert team will be ready to provide you with the legal support you need to secure the compensation you deserve. The team can be contacted on 01273 032328 or enquiries@deanwilson.co.uk.