Our client was driving down a road in the early morning. He reports coming over the crest of a hill and was about to put on his high beams when he made sudden impact with an object. This was later discovered to be a horse.
Our client was trapped in his vehicle and taken to a hospital by ambulance nearly 2 hours after the accident. He suffered injuries to his lower back, right hip, right knee, left leg, left knee, left foot, scarring and a blood clot. He also sustained psychological co-accompanying injuries.
As time went on, our client became increasingly impacted by his continuing disabilities and limitations. He also incurred out-of-pocket expenses for general and specialist consultations, physiotherapy, diagnostic imaging and anti-depressant, anti-inflammatory & analgesic medication.
Our client eventually made the decision to contact Gerard Malouf and Partners. Our team were quick to recognise that our client was approaching the limitation period for making a claim. We acted quickly to serve the defendant’s insurance company with the relevant evidence to effectively pursue our client’s claim. As a result, we insured that our client’s legal rights in relation to the claim were preserved.
The expert team headed by David Cossalter, who is an accredited specialist in public liability matters, quickly identify the difficulties which would be faced in securing compensation for our client. Cases involving animals and impact with vehicles are not clear-cut. It must be shown that the animal escaped from its usual home and that escape was due to the negligence of the owner. In this particular case we investigated fencing, council records, veterinarian records and interviewed local neighbours so as to obtain the necessary evidence to show the owner of the animal was negligent.
To further support our client we consulted our trusted medical experts to produce reports to strengthen our client’s claim and establish liability.
Once we had secured the necessary evidence David Cossalter sought to engage in discussions with the Defendants with the view to attempt to resolve the claim. Through mediation, our solicitors were able to secure a settlement of $775,000.00, an amazing result for our client.
If you, or somebody you know has been injured, please do not hesitate to contact the team of personal injury specialists at Gerard Malouf & Partners. We will assess your claim in a free consultation on 1800 004 878
