Successful cross-border road collision claim involving agents in Lithuania
In March 2020, our client, a taxi driver in London, was hit head on in his taxi by a reckless driver who crossed into the opposite carriageway to cause the collision. The defendant driver then fled the scene. He was later apprehended at Luton Airport and arrested before he could get on a plane.
He was charged with several offences, including three of causing serious injury to another person in accordance with the Road Traffic Act 1988. He was sentenced and imprisoned and, after just more than a year, was released from prison and deported to his native Lithuania.
Our client had previously enjoyed an active and full life. However, he suffered life-changing injuries in the collision including severe diffuse axonal brain injury, fractures including a complex hip fracture, internal injuries to his liver and gall bladder and serious psychiatric injury.
Once instructed, the personal injury team of Jennifer Buchanan, Harvinder Kaur and Adam Curry, were able to obtain interim funds to put in place a rehabilitation regime around his specific needs.
In order to settle the claim, we needed to show the Court that we had taken clearly defined steps to bring legal documents to the attention of the defendant driver. Harvinder instructed specialist enquiry agents to locate the driver's address. He was found to have two addresses in Lithuania, one being the home of his parents.
The agents in Lithuania found that the driver returned to his parents' address occasionally when he was not working out in the Netherlands. Therefore, we sent the legal papers to the Lithuanian addresses identified by the agents so that we could bring the documents to the attention of the driver.
The catastrophic impact of his injuries meant that our client did not have capacity to conduct proceedings. This meant that the seven-figure settlement we negotiated with the defendant insurers had to be approved by a High Court judge.
The work undertaken through Harvinder's cross-border investigation was crucial since the Judge had to be satisfied that we had taken sufficient steps to locate the defendant driver and bring the court documents to his attention.
We were able to show the Court the steps we had taken during the complex investigation and the judge approved the negotiated settlement at an Approval Hearing.
Contact us
For further information about road traffic accident claims and personal injury claims, please call Adam Curry on 0330 460 6367 or email adam.curry@fieldfisher.com
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