Father sues for £1m over crash that cost him a leg
Father sues for £1m over crash that cost him a leg
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Mandat

Original Poster:

4,643 posts

268 months

Saturday 19th March 2016
quotequote all
I saw this article in the Evening Standard last week, and my first though was that Craig's injury was due to his own negligence in leaving his car unsecured, thus allowing it to roll away, like it did.

Since insurance payouts are dependent on establishing negligence, would the other driver have any liability in this instance?

hedgefinder

3,418 posts

200 months

Saturday 19th March 2016
quotequote all
sounds like he got out and left the car on an incline without securing the handbrake...pretty obvious its his own fault........ if the other vehicle really had virtually no damage as the other party is stating then it blows his reasoning out of the water and makes him look like even more of a dhead. Should all be pretty easy to prove too with the ammount of emergency services and other witnesses that were probably there during or after the incident.

KungFuPanda

4,643 posts

200 months

Saturday 19th March 2016
quotequote all
Depends on whether they view the incident as one or two distinct incidents; the first impact between the two vehicles and then the victim's vehicle rolling away. If I were defending the claim, I'd argue that there was a break in the chain of causation after the initial impact and once the victim got out of his vehicle without making sure it was securely parked therefore being the author of his own misfortune.

Monty Python

4,813 posts

227 months

Saturday 19th March 2016
quotequote all
FFS if you get out of your car without first putting the handbrake on it's your own fault if it rolls off - the crash in this case is irrelevant.

itcaptainslow

4,790 posts

166 months

Saturday 19th March 2016
quotequote all
He was the driver of his car. He was in control. He failed to secure HIS vehicle before leaving it, which caused it to roll away.

Regardless of what happened immediately prior to this, these are the base facts. But for his negligence in not securing his vehicle, he wouldn't have ended up with a severed leg.

Unfortunately another example of people failing to take responsibility for their own actions

Mojooo

13,291 posts

210 months

Sunday 20th March 2016
quotequote all
itcaptainslow said:
Regardless of what happened immediately prior to this, these are the base facts. But for his negligence in not securing his vehicle, he wouldn't have ended up with a severed leg.
I suspect he will argue that if the other driver did not start driving off his vehicle would not have started to move.
I am just guessing that they were 'connected' so when he got out it may have been secured in the sense it wasn't going anywhere and only did when the other driver to the apaprently urneasonable step of driving off - which may have disconnected the 2 cars or even nudged the other car to start moving.

konark

1,241 posts

149 months

Sunday 20th March 2016
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I don't think he's got a leg to stand on.

matchmaker

9,067 posts

230 months

Sunday 20th March 2016
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konark said:
I don't think he's got a leg to stand on.
He does - but just one...

Mandat

Original Poster:

4,643 posts

268 months

Wednesday 23rd March 2016
quotequote all
Mojooo said:
itcaptainslow said:
Regardless of what happened immediately prior to this, these are the base facts. But for his negligence in not securing his vehicle, he wouldn't have ended up with a severed leg.
I suspect he will argue that if the other driver did not start driving off his vehicle would not have started to move.
I am just guessing that they were 'connected' so when he got out it may have been secured in the sense it wasn't going anywhere and only did when the other driver to the apaprently urneasonable step of driving off - which may have disconnected the 2 cars or even nudged the other car to start moving.
That seems to be the only logical argument that could be used, however, I don't believe that it should be sufficient to lay the negligence on the other driver.

Even when the car started to move, Craig was not at risk of losing his leg until he himself made the conscious decision to get in between the moving car and the post that it pinned him against. I cannot see how the responsibility for Craig's decision can be pinned on the other driver.

However, seeing as the potential payout is in the £millions, I'm not surprised that a claim has been made, however spurious or lack of merit it might seem.

MrBarry123

6,108 posts

151 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
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His argument sounds wobbly to me...

TroubledSoul

4,669 posts

224 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
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Well if everything is as the other party has stated, I can't see that he has a leg to stand on.

KevinCorvetteC6

13,846 posts

310 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
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Seems there is too much influence from the USA nowadays. His own fault pure and simple.

Edited to add:

'Bl00dy ambulance chasers'

Edited by KevinCorvetteC6 on Thursday 24th March 15:10

AH33

2,066 posts

165 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
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who's he going to sue? himself?

Starfighter

5,351 posts

208 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
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AH33 said:
who's he going to sue? himself?
He may have a claim on his own insurance, some policies provide some level of injury payout but normally measured in buttons not millions.