Payout For Career Ending Injury

A bricklayer left wheelchair bound after a serious car crash has been awarded 2.25million compensation.

Anthony Bennett was in the back seat of Jonathan Stephens' car when he lost control and hit a boulder on the side of the A390, near Liskeard, Cornwall, on October 25, 2003.

Stephens, a 19-year-old factory worker from the Cornish town, died in hospital after the crash, but his three passengers were all left with serious injuries.

Mr Bennett, of Dobwalls, suffered a fractured spine which left him paralysed from the waist down. He also suffered a fractured right shoulder and fractured ribs and was admitted to a specialist hospital for several months after the crash.

Lawyers for Mr Bennett were due to argue that Mr Stephens was at fault for the accident because he drove too fast and did not take appropriate action to avoid the accident.

But instead a 2.25million compensation settlement was reached at the High Court with Mr Stephens' insurance company.

An inquest in May 2004 into Mr Stephens' death found that he had cannabis and alcohol just below the legal driving limit in his body at the time of death.

A statement from Mr Bennett, then aged 20, was read at the hearing, in which he estimated that the car was going at between 60 and 70mph at the time of the crash, on a slight left-hand turn.

He said the four friends were returning from a drive during which they had ended up drinking in a pub in Tavistock, West Devon . The hearing was told that Mr Stephens had two pints of lager.

Mr Bennett said: "The rear off-side of the car just spun around. Everyone in the car went quiet. I can remember the rear of the car swung around and we just ended up travelling sideways on the wrong side of the road. I remember Jonathan trying to correct it and we ended up swinging around the other way."

The inquest heard that the car rolled over on its side several times before coming to rest on the bank at the side of the road.

Marcus Julian, 19, from Liskeard, broke all his ribs, suffered bleeding to his brain and damage to his right lung. Front seat passenger Marcus Jeffrey, 17, from Liskeard, also had broken ribs, a punctured lung and a dislocated shoulder blade.

by: Nigel Rutherforde

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