£3million compensation secured from CICA (Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority) for 13-week-old shaken baby

Boyes Turner's specialist CICA lawyers secured £3 million in compensation for a boy who was left with a brain injury, learning disability, behavioural problems and blindness, after he was shaken by his father at the age of 13 weeks.

We were instructed by the boy’s guardian, the Official Solicitor, to handle the CICA claim when the boy was five years old. The original application to the CICA had been made three years before by the county council which had parental responsibility for the boy at that time. The CICA had accepted the application on the basis that the amount of compensation would be decided when the child was older.

Interim payment secured to pay for rehabilitation and support from a case manager

Before we were instructed, no experts’ reports had been obtained about the child’s injury, his condition or his needs. No interim (advance) payments had been secured to pay for rehabilitation.

We immediately requested his medical and educational records and arranged for him to be seen by experts in educational psychology, ophthalmology and the costs of disability. On their advice we employed a case manager and a neuropsychologist to set up and carry out a behavioural programme to help with the child’s rehabilitation. We secured an interim payment from the CICA to pay for the case management and rehabilitation programme.

The case manager supported our client through the difficult transition from full-time education at a specialist school whilst living at home, to living in a local authority assisted home. By this time he was registered blind and had global learning difficulties and behavioural problems but began to make progress with the help of the behavioural programme and the case manager’s support.

Financial provision for specialist brain injury accommodation and compensation for loss of earnings

The CICA had obtained evidence suggesting that our client was capable of doing some work and could live long-term in local authority accommodation. We strongly disagreed with this assessment. Our experts supported our view that our client would never be able to work or live independently. He needed care and should live in specialist brain injury accommodation for the rest of his life.

After a lengthy hearing, the CICA tribunal accepted our claim for our client in almost all respects. His £3 million compensation award included full loss of earnings and pension, the costs of brain injury specialist accommodation for the rest of his life, ongoing case management and input from a neuropsychologist.

Protecting our client’s compensation

The Official Solicitor had set up a personal injury trust to receive the compensation award but we were concerned that our client would be left with no responsible adult to act in our client’s best interests once the  CICA claim had settled. The Official Solicitor would be able to administer funds through the trust but would not be able to receive our client’s benefits or act as deputy. We believed that our client should be protected by Court of Protection deputyship. The CICA tribunal agreed and allowed the costs for an application on our client’s behalf to the Court of Protection and the appointment of a deputy to protect our client’s interests.

Supported living brings quality of life

With the help of our Court of Protection deputyship team, our client’s compensation enabled him to move into supported living accommodation. With the support of his care team, he enjoys participating in activities, such as cooking, playing board games, visiting a local farm and going for walks. We are now working to recruit a ‘buddy’ to take him out and about and improve his quality of life through activities he enjoys.

N.B. Since this claim was made, the CICA rules have changed to limit the amount of compensation payable to an injured person under the scheme to a maximum of £500,000.

If someone in your family has suffered a traumatic brain injury after an accident you can find out more about claiming compensation by contacting our specialist injury lawyers, free and confidentially, on 0118 952 7137 or email piclaims@boyesturner.com.