Mark Calvin Taylor v Stuart Chesworth -and- The Motor Insurers Bureau
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE RAMSEY,Mr Justice Ramsey |
| Judgment Date | 30 April 2007 |
| Neutral Citation | [2007] EWHC 1001 (QB) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
| Docket Number | Case No: MA21011 |
| Date | 30 April 2007 |
[2007] EWHC 1001 (QB)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
MANCHESTER DISTRICT REGISTRY
The Honourable Mr Justice Ramsey
Case No: MA21011
Craig Sephton QC and Jonathan Richards (instructed by Linder Myers) for the Claimant
Richard Methuen QC and Harry Steinberg (instructed by Greenwoods) for the Second Defendant
Hearing dates:
Approved Judgment
I direct that pursuant to CPR PD 39A para 6.1 no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic.
Mr Justice Ramsey
The Claimant, Mark Taylor was born on 29 August 1984. On 20 July 1998, when he was 13 years old, he was a passenger in the car driven by the First Defendant, Jack Chesworth who was uninsured. The car went out of control, mounted the pavement, skidded on grass and hit a lamp post. Mark Taylor was removed from the car by another passenger, Christopher Heap. He suffered a head injury and was knocked unconscious.
Mark Taylor was conveyed by ambulance to Manchester Royal Infirmary from where he was transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital. He was sedated, ventilated, intubated and treated in the Intensive Therapy Unit, the High Dependency Unit and on a ward. He was discharged home on 4 August 1998.
On 30 April 2002 these proceedings were issued by Mark Taylor's mother and litigation friend, Jane Vose. By a Consent Order dated 8 May 2003, judgment was entered for the Claimant with damages to be determined by the Court. The basis of the Consent Order was an apportionment of liability between the Claimant and the First Defendant as to 75%/25% in favour of the Claimant.
The matter was transferred to the High Court and by Order dated 2 December 2004, the status of the Claimant was changed from that of a child to that of a patient and Mr Andrew Cushworth, a solicitor with Linder Myers was appointed as Mark Taylor's litigation friend. The settlement was approved by Holland J. pursuant to CPR rule 21.10(1)(a).
Directions were given for the trial of quantum. The hearing of quantum issues was listed for December 2006. Prior to and during that hearing the parties were able to agree, subject to the Court's approval, many of the heads of claim. At the hearing the evidence and submissions were, in the end, therefore directed to the remaining issues of future care and care management costs, including any necessary accommodation costs. The main issue between the parties relates to the scope and extent of future care which will meet the reasonable needs of Mark Taylor.
In this case the evidence of the effect of the injury on Mark Taylor and on his behaviour has developed with time. In particular on the weekend before the trial there was an incident which led to Mark Taylor being injured, as I shall explain below. That event and its consequences had a significant impact on much of the expert evidence which was called at the hearing. One of the major issues that I have to resolve, taking account of that expert evidence, is the proper impact of the recent event on the care and case management needed for Mark Taylor, who otherwise has a normal life expectancy.
Mark Taylor's current condition
The experts have been able to agree much about Mark Taylor's condition. He suffered head and consequent brain injury. The head injury which he suffered is classified as severe, manifested as frontal lobe damage with an associated dysexecutive syndrome. There will be no further improvement in his clinical condition which will continue in the long term.
In terms of functional ability, because of the brain injury he manifests a greater response to life events than someone of a comparable age. He presents as emotionally labile, irritable and having problems with temper control. He has exhibited periods of disturbed behaviour where he has been both verbally and physically aggressive. He displays a tendency towards obsessional traits, with an identified risk of florid morbid sexual jealousy. His daily functioning has improved with the rehabilitation he has received to date. He requires care and support, particularly to prevent him relapsing into a demotivated state. Without support there is an increase of episodes of volatile behaviour and loss of temper, with a risk of violence. There is a low risk of deterioration of his functional ability in that he previously had a right hemiparesis. He is not and never will be capable of remunerative employment but may be capable of undertaking some therapeutic employment.
Mark Taylor's current support
From February 2003 he lived in a house in Beswick which he shared with his mother, Jane Vose and with his sister, Stacey Taylor. Soon after that date he formed a relationship with Stacey Duncuft. In early December 2004 Mark moved to a house in Droylesden with his mother, sister and Stacey Duncuft. By the time of the hearing he was living in that house with Stacey Duncuft and his mother was staying overnight on some nights.
In terms of care and support, Anne Riley was appointed as Mark's Case Manager in April 2002. She arranged for him to undergo residential assessment at the Transitional Rehabilitation Unit (“TRU”) in Merseyside. He attended there from January to May 2004 when he discharged himself.
In October 2004 Marian Hooson became Mark's Case Manager. She recommended neuropsychological intervention. It was difficult to find an appropriate neuropsychologist and Holland J authorised Dr Aidan Jones, who gave expert evidence before me, to become involved in a therapeutic capacity from 12 November 2004 until April 2005. He has since then had neuropsychological intervention from Dr Jacki Bamborough (May 2005 to November 2005) and Dr Alan Perry-Small (January 2006 to August 2006).
From April 2005 support workers have been employed for Mark. They have been working from 9:00am to 5:00pm each day. There have been a number of changes in support workers. The most constant support has been provided by Edwin or Eddie Bishop.
Dr Chesterman, a consultant psychiatrist, has undertaken periodic reviews of Mark from April 2005 and he has had speech and language therapy and assistance from an occupational therapist.
Since April 2005 Mark has been encouraged by his support workers to undertake some activities. He has attended a gym which has generally been a success. He has also been encouraged to carry out some cooking and housework. In Autumn 2005 he attempted a joinery course although that proved too demanding for him. He has undergone courses in Computing and English. His interests now appear to lie in the Gym and Computing, particularly using EBay.
The position by the time of the hearing
By the time of the hearing Mark's support position was suffering from a number of difficulties. First, his main support worker, Eddie Bishop, was unable to continue because he needed to go into hospital for surgery and to convalesce for a prolonged period. There were some problems with his other support work, Robert Wright, who no longer provided support. A new support worker, Bobby Bojovic, who gave evidence started work in September 2006. A further new support worker, Bethel, started in December 2006 and there were problems at that stage in the relationship with Mark.
Secondly, there had been a gap in his neuropsychological therapy because no replacement could be found after Dr Perry-Small left in August 2006. In early December 2006 a new neuropsychologist, Dr Paul Priem, was appointed and he was starting to undertake some therapy by the time of the hearing.
Thirdly, the relationship between Stacey Duncuft and Mark Taylor, which had been difficult at times, was going through problems and various opinions were given on whether the relationship would last. This is of importance because a level of support is currently provided by Stacey Duncuft. There was no additional support provided during the overnight period when Stacey was at home or at weekends. When there were such difficulties, Jane Vose would provide some additional support.
In addition, these proceedings were evidently causing concern for Mark as was the general uncertainty of his position.
As I have said, a major feature of the evidence was an event which occurred over the weekend prior to the hearing. On Friday 8 December, Mark had been to the gym with the new support worker, Bethel, and there had been some problems between them. Mark had then cancelled the support visit which Bobby Bojovic was due to give On the Friday evening Mark had gone to a friend's cousin's wedding with a friend. Marian Hooson, as his case manager, had arranged to phone Mark at 9:00pm to check that he had returned home by then.
At 9:10pm Marian Hooson received a telephone call from Stacey Duncuft. She said that Mark had phoned her in an agitated manner wanting her to phone Marian Hooson to say that he would not be home until midnight and that he did not want “to be harassed by people because he was with his mates”. Stacey Duncuft said that the plan was for her to pick up Mark at about midnight, although she said that she had warned Mark that if he was not at the allocated place at the appointed time, she would not wait for him as she had to work on the Saturday morning. Marian Hooson asked Stacey to contact her if Mark was not at the pick-up point and she confirmed that she would do that.
Stacey Duncuft did not contact Marian Hooson. She had not properly informed Marian Hooson of the position. She did not pick Mark up that evening and Mark was injured in an incident. He said that he had been hit...
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