Louise Jane Palmer v Russell Timms & Ors
[2024] EWHC 2292 (KB)
Trevor Doughty v Lukasz Kazmierski
10 June 2024
[2024] EWHC 1393 (KB)
High Court
A motorcyclist was seriously hurt in a car accident. The judge said the car driver was mostly at fault for causing the crash because he was going too fast and too close to the car in front. However, the motorcyclist also made a mistake by following too closely, so the judge reduced the amount of money the car driver has to pay.
Key Facts
- •Road traffic collision involving a motorcycle (Claimant) and a car (Defendant).
- •Claimant sustained serious injuries, becoming tetraplegic.
- •Collision occurred on a three-lane section of the A40.
- •Multiple vehicles were involved in a series of collisions.
- •No CCTV evidence available.
- •Conflicting accounts of the sequence of events from witnesses.
- •Expert accident reconstruction evidence presented.
- •Experts agreed the first collision was between the Defendant's car and another vehicle.
- •Heavy, stop-start traffic conditions at the time of the accident.
Legal Principles
A driver owes a duty to use reasonable care to avoid causing injury.
Charlesworth & Percy on Negligence 15th Ed at 11-202
Drivers must bear in mind that a motorcar is potentially a dangerous weapon.
Lunt v Khelifa [2002] EWCA Civ 801
Drivers are taken to know the principles of the Highway Code.
Highway Code, s.38(7) of the Road Traffic Act 1988
Caution should be exercised in relation to the evidence of accident reconstruction experts.
Lambert v Clayton [2009] EWCA Civ 237, Stewart v Glaze [2009] EWHC 704
Where damage is partly due to claimant's and partly defendant's fault, damages are reduced to an extent deemed just and equitable.
Section 1(1) of the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945
In contributory negligence, consider claimant's relative blameworthiness and causative potency of their actions.
Baker v Willoughby [170] AC 467, Eagle v Chambers [2003] EWCA Civ 1007, Jackson v Murray [2015] UKSC 5
Highway Code rules regarding stopping distances, adapting driving to road conditions, and motorway driving.
Highway Code Rules 126, 146, 254
Outcomes
Judgment for the Claimant on the issue of liability.
Defendant's negligence in driving too close and too fast for conditions caused the initial collision, reducing the Claimant's stopping distance and leading to the accident.
Damages reduced by 25% for contributory negligence.
Claimant was also negligent in driving too close and/or too fast for the conditions, but Defendant bears significantly greater responsibility.