Personal injury news

Teenager loses car accident claim

Teenager Annona James has lost a car accident claim against the driver of a car after she walked into the road and was hit at the age of eight. James was left severely disabled in the road traffic accident when she was hit by the car that was travelling at 30mph. The High Court has backed a judge's decision to find the driver not guilty of negligence.

A deputy High Court judge sitting in Middlesborough dismissed her accident claim in March last year, saying driver Stuart Fairley was not at fault, even though he had not seen her walk into the road.

Sadly it was concluded that James had walked into the road without giving the driver time to see her and avoid a collision. James' car accident claim was rejected despite her obviously impaired quality of life and her need for round the clock care.

Upon consideration of the evidence presented to the High Court, Lord Justice Walsh concluded: "For some unaccountable reason, Annona had gone into the road when her two companions had wisely and safely stayed on the pavement. The motorist cannot be held responsible for the sad consequences which followed. Sorry as I am for Annona and her family, I am satisfied that the appeal must be dismissed."

He went on to explain the reason for his decision to dismiss the car accident claim: "But English law, in relation to compensation for road accidents, depends on the defendant being held to be negligent. In this case, there is just no basis for finding any negligence on the part of Mr Fairley and the judge was right so to decide."

Lord Justice Longmore went on to say that he understood how upsetting it must be for Annona and her family to be unable to receive injury compensation by pursuing a car accident claim.