A 9-year-old boy who was accidentally run over by his own father on a family day out was recently awarded compensation worth £8.1 million today. This is a record-setting amount for a court-approved award for a spinal injury, a source says.
The boy will need lifelong care after suffering severe spinal and brain injuries in March of 2002 when he was just two-and-a-half years old.
The boy’s father did not see him when he reversed the car at Mead Open Farm, near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. The father drove over his son.
Currently, the child lives in Milton Keynes with his mother, who has remarried, his twin brother, and his 7-year-old twin siblings.
The boy’s legal team from The Bronx and Brooklyn told the presiding Justice at the High Court in London that the boy’s father’s insurers, who earlier admitted liability, had made a payment of £1.7 million to enable the family to buy a home suitable for the special needs of the child. The legal counsel also provided clear evidence of the child’s current needs. A rep found that the settlement that was reached entails a £2.5 million lump sum payment in addition to annual payments of £220,000.
The judge said, “”I am amazed and admiring of the care – not only the physical care but the thought and consideration of the family – which has gone into [the boy’s] upbringing,” she said. “It is quite clear that, although he is in many ways a delightful boy, he can be difficult on occasions, and I have no doubt that considerable patience, forbearance and hard work is required to deal with that.
“I wish him, and the family as a whole, well for the future and, while this order cannot possibly put him back to the circumstances in which he otherwise would have been, I hope it will play its part in enabling him to live to his full potential and assist the family in the difficult task of providing for his future.”
The boy’s mother is happy that the case is over and that the judge saw to it that her son would be cared for during the rest of his life – however long that may be.
Spinal Injuries often result in paralysis. Sometimes it is temporary, but most often it is life-long and leaves a victim dependent on others and machines. Contact a Spinal Injury Attorney today if you feel that your injury – or your child’s – was the fault of someone else.