Car crash brain damage victim gets £4m compensation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34502426

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A man who suffered severe brain damage in a car crash when he was a teenager is to get more than £4m in compensation, his lawyers have said.

Jack Mitchell, from south-east London, was 17 and studying to become an electrician at the time of the crash in 2009, the legal firm Novum Law said.

A spokeswoman said he was a front seat passenger in a car that crashed when a friend driving swerved to avoid a fox.

She said a £4.3m care and support package had been agreed with insurers.

The insurance firm was representing the friend of Mr Mitchell who was driving the Fiat Punto when it was in the "horrific collision" in March 2009, the spokeswoman said.

'Traumatic injury'

She said the Mitchell family had felt "let down by the system".

"(Jack) suffered serious injuries in the crash, including multiple fractures to his left leg, lacerations to the back of his head and ear, but the most severe damage was a traumatic injury to the frontal lobe of his brain," said the spokeswoman.

"This has resulted in Jack suffering long-term, major, personality and behavioural difficulties leaving him with serious problems with his memory, ability to concentrate, planning and organising skills and suffers from aggression and anger management issues and extreme fatigue."

She said Mr Mitchell had spent three months in hospital and "just three weeks" at a specialist rehabilitation unit before returning to his family.

He has since moved into a residential rehabilitation centre in Banstead, Surrey, and has been unable to undertake any paid employment since the accident, the law firm said.

'Absolute agony'

Mr Mitchell's mother, Frances Mitchell, said the years since the crash had been an emotional "rollercoaster".

"It is absolute agony to see your child suffer a brain injury and to watch them struggle every day," she said.

"Before his accident, Jack was a fit and healthy, motivated young man, hoping to qualify as an electrician and working part-time at Morrisons.

"Since the accident, we've had to come to terms with the fact that we have lost the Jack we knew and our lives will never be the same again."