Exchange Chambers

£7.2 million compensation award – Amanda Yip QC

Amanda Yip QC represented a girl who suffered catastrophic brain injury as a result of being shaken as a baby in her claim for criminal injuries compensation.  At a Tribunal hearing in Birmingham this month the girl, now aged 18, was awarded compensation in excess of £7.2 million.

Commenting after the hearing, Amanda said “While £7.2 million sounds a huge amount, the money is required to meet the very substantial needs that the Applicant will have for the rest of her life, including care and equipment.  Despite the size of the award, there is a real worry that the money will run out as returns on investment are simply not matching the escalation in the cost of care.  Lump sum awards of damages in civil cases are becoming less common with annual payments being a better way to meet the future costs but such payments were not available under the Criminal Injuries Scheme.  Sadly, significant restrictions have now been placed on awards for criminal injuries and the maximum award is £500,000, a sum that will provide very little for those most badly injured.”

A welcome development at the hearing was the willingness of the Tribunal to embrace technology.  Amanda explains:

“For some time, our PI team have been using Excel spreadsheets to prepare detailed and comprehensive Schedules of Loss.  We find this a really good way to present cases.  Any change in the evidence can readily be incorporated and totals recalculated.  At the hearing, the Tribunal chair was willing to use my spreadsheet and worked through it line by line to give judgment.  This led to a much more accurate assessment of the losses and also allowed the family to see exactly how the award was made up.  I believe that is a much fairer way to reach a decision than the rough and ready approach sometimes adopted in the past.”

Junior members of the Exchange PI team are now trained to prepare Schedules in Excel and are very willing to work with solicitors to assist in pulling claims together so that this method can be used.

The award in this case will allow the injured girl’s adoptive parents to continue to improve her quality of life as they have done with such dedication to date.