Gerard Martin QC achieves his largest ever personal injury settlement

November 20, 2017

Gerard Martin QC from Exchange Chambers has secured his largest ever settlement in a personal injury case.

The High Court last week approved the settlement of a claim for a 24 year old man injured in a road traffic accident on holiday in Portugal when 13 years old.

The settlement was for £11 million reflecting the very severe brain injury the claimant sustained.

The size of the award is partly as a result of the recent increase in the discount rate to be applied to multipliers for life losses at the minus 0.75% rate. In this case, the life multiplier was 80, whereas before the increase in the discount rate the multiplier would have been 31.

Commenting on the case, Gerard Martin QC said:

“This award is the largest award to date achieved in my career and the same applies to my instructing solicitor Julie Reynolds, a specialist brain injury practitioner.

“It reflects the severe, life-changing injury our client suffered – but is also interesting from litigation tactics point of view. The settlement was agreed at a relatively late stage – we were due to go to a contested disposal hearing this week.  It is a good example of what can be achieved when trial is imminent.  Given that a change in discount rate downwards is not expected for many months to come the imperative for claimants is to get cases listed for trial as soon as possible.”

Gerard Martin QC was last month named as Clinical Negligence Barrister of the Year (UK) at The Lawyer Monthly Legal Awards 2017. He was also named as a tier 1 leading silk by The Legal 500 where he was praised for being “brilliant on difficult cases”.