Roberta Taylor v Kevin Sands and Co-operative Insurance
Limited - Court of Session: 5 December 2006
Roberta Taylor is the guardian of her daughter Clare who was
very seriously injured in a road traffic accident on 4 February
2002. Liabilty is admitted. Roberta Taylor sought further interim
damages of £250,000 in addition to an existing voluntary payment of
£250,000 which was made on 11 May 2004.
Ms Taylor had suffered severe acquired brain injury. She had a
major impairment of her cognitive functioning. Significant
improvement was unlikely and she would be unable to return to any
form of gainful employment. She had a 24-hour care package
organised and managed by her mother, who had purchased a nearby
property following the voluntary payment.
The case was complicated by the fact that Ms Taylor had suffered
a brain injury as a result of a previous road traffic accident on
26 July 2000 and had, before both accidents, suffered panic attacks
and agoraphobia in 1997 and from work related stress in 1999 and
2000. There was a dispute between the parties in relation to what
Ms Taylor's position would have been had the accident on 4 February
2002 not taken place.
The pursuer's counsel referred to a schedule of damages coming
to a total of £4.1 million. She submitted that even if the claim
was worth only £1 million the interim damages figure, taking into
account the voluntary payment, remained a reasonable proportion of
the damages likely to be awarded in the case.
The defender's counsel argued that Ms Taylor's local authority
would be required to provide suitable and adequate residential
accommodation for her, in which case the costs would not be met by
the defenders, based upon Crookdale v Drury [2004] EWCA
1370. It was suggested that it was not possible to say at this
stage that Ms Taylor would be awarded any more than £500,000, in
which case the voluntary payment of £250,000, which had already
been paid, represented a reasonable proportion.
It was also argued for the defenders that the motion was
premature, coming early in the procedure, while the parties were
still adjusting their written pleadings and nearly two months
before the Record was due to close. Lady Dorrian was prepared to
look at the quantum evidence then available despite the early
procedural stage. Two medical reports were available to her.
It was accepted that the interim damages to be awarded were not
to exceed a reasonable proportion of the likely award. In previous
cases that sum had varied between 50% and 70%. Lady Dorrian took
the view that if the defenders were successful the claim might well
be worth no more than £600,000 - £700,000, while if the pursuer was
successful it might still not be worth as much as £1 million. In
those circumstances the interim damages sought were an excessive
proportion of the award. She took the view that a small additional
award was justified and awarded £50,000, in addition to the
£250,000 already paid.