A Northampton man who suffered catastrophic injuries in a road smash has today won a £500,000 interim damages payout at the High Court.
Marcel Beasley, 29, of Kingsland Gardens, was left facing a lifetime of disability after his motorcycle was involved in a smash with a car near Nottingham in May 2009.
The sum, which will help the former power station worker move out of a rehabilitation unit, is likely to be only a fraction of the full damages payout he eventually receives.
Awarding the sum, Judge Jonathan Simpkiss said Mr Beasley’s injuries were “seriously life-changing” and included “very severe” brain damage.
He said: “As a result of the injury, the claimant was hospitalised and was in an extremely critical position for some time. However, he was released to his pre-accident address and, at that stage, received only limited support. His condition deteriorated and he agreed to a period of residential rehabilitation.”
But, the judge said, Mr Beasley’s condition had improved so that there was now a plan in place to move him back into the community in April.
Mr Beasley’s barrister, Richard Gregory, said the £500,000 payment sought would go towards funding a place to live and to compensate for injury and losses.
In a previous trial, which decided liability for the accident, the High Court heard Mr Beasley was on a Yamaha R6 on the A453, near Barton in Farbis, when
he was overtaking a line of stationary, slow-moving traffic. A Volkswagen Golf pulled out of the queue in order to turn around and they collided. Mr Beasley was thrown over the top of the car, suffering devastating brain damage when his helmet strap snapped, causing it to come off.
The judge, Sir Raymond Jack, ruled the blame lay entirely with the car driver.
The hearing was told the final damages sum was likely to be well in excess of £1 million.
 |  |