News

Stephen Cottrell secures interim payment of £100,000 for severely injured client
18 March 2010

Stephen Cottrell secured a significant interim payment for a severely injured claimant in the High Court in the case of Harris v Roy [Master Kay, QBD 5 February 2010, LTL 8/3/10]. The decision of Master Kay has important implications for claimants seeking interim payments where the Defendant alleges that Periodical Payments might be appropriate. The Master held that the court needs to take into account all financial losses and general damages until the likely date of the trial, not just losses as at the date of the application for an interim payment, when deciding what funds were available for an interim payment. In this case the Claimant had been badly injured in a road traffic accident, would almost certainly not go back to his old job and would be entitled to substantial damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenities. Making an interim award of £100,000 (in addition to previous voluntary interim payments of £60,000) was obviously preferable to requiring the Claimant to make repeated applications during the litigation.