John Barstow, Alastair Fernie and Liz Graham have over 30 years experience of acting for clients and their families who have suffered injuries of this type.

What is a catastrophic injury?
A catastrophic injury is one which has a massive impact upon both the victim's ability to work and look after themselves.

How are such injuries sustained?
Such injuries can be sustained in many different circumstances but typically arise in serious road traffic accidents and accidents at work where there is a significant trauma to the head and/or spine resulting in serious brain damage and/or paralysis.

What we can do to help
By their very nature such injuries have a devastating effect upon both the injured person and their family. We always endeavour to provide both emotional and practical support as well as legal advice.

Rehabilitative care
It is extremely important for a person who has suffered from a catastrophic injury to receive the best possible rehabilitative care as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the level of rehabilitative care on the NHS is often limited.

It is, however, often possible to obtain funds from the defendant's insurers as part of a claim for damages by way of an interim payment (payment on account of final damages) which can be used to fund the cost of obtaining care in the private sector at an early stage.

Obtaining an interim payment
If it is obvious that the defendant in a claim for damages is at fault obtaining an interim payment is often straightforward. However, the circumstances of some accidents are not straightforward and the chances of success may be marginal. In such circumstances, upon the assumption that there are reasonable prospects of success, we will always endeavour to resolve legal liability as soon as possible and, if necessary, proceed to a trial at court. An order from the court for an interim payment can then be obtained if the defendant's insurers do not provide one voluntarily.

Winning cases
It is often necessary to take difficult cases to trial. It takes a solicitor of great skill, experience and tenacity to win such cases, as they are invariably hard fought given how much is at stake.

John Barstow recently took a case to trial on behalf of a client who suffered a spinal injury resulting in paraplegia having fallen over a low wall outside his rented home, which had a significant fall on the other side of it. John managed to establish liability against the landlord for not erecting a handrail although his client was found to have significantly contributed to the accident. John's client will now be able to recover substantial damages, which will help to improve the quality of his life.

Putting together the team
Running a catastrophic injury claim requires a team of experts and lawyers who specialise in such work to be put together.

We have developed excellent working relationships with a range of authoritative experts and barristers who we are confident will serve our client's interests well.

Negotiating settlement and getting the right result
The defendant's insurers will also put together a team of experts and lawyers who will look to minimise the amount of damages the defendant's insurers have to pay.

Negotiations can be extremely stressful for clients and their families, as decisions have to be made which involve hundreds of thousands and often millions of pounds and which are likely to have a profound effect upon all concerned. It is essential for a client and their family to have confidence in the team advising them so that they can be satisfied that they have achieved the best possible result in all the circumstances of the case. We at Tranters Freeclaim pride ourselves in providing such a service.

Alastair Fernie recently secured damages of £2.5 million on behalf of a client who suffered severe brain damage following a motorcycle accident involving difficult issues with regards to liability, loss of earnings and care costs. It is worthy of note that this was a case in which a previous firm of solicitors advised that there were insufficient chances of success to proceed further.