Half a million pounds awarded to man who suffered brain injury after an assault

38 year old Stepan was a father of two from Russia. He had travelled over to the UK to find work and had only been in the country for one day when he was viciously assaulted by a gang and stabbed in the head with a screwdriver.

He was in a coma for a month and suffered a severe brain injury which left him seriously disabled.

Our firm applied on his behalf to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) who accepted his claim but said his injuries were not ‘very serious’. They also argued that a deduction to any award must be made for Incapacity Benefit – even though Stepan had never received the benefits they said he could.

We were able to show, with the help of our expert welfare benefits solicitor, that Stepan had not been in the UK long enough to claim this benefit.

After a long and detailed wrangle with the CICA, they accepted that Stepan’s injuries were ‘very serious’, that his award should not be reduced and he should be given the maximum award of £500,000.00.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Stepan had been feeling extremely isolated, living in a ground floor council flat in Greater Manchester. He felt constantly under threat as he had to live close to the scene of the assault.

The amount of the award meant he was able to move to a house of his choice, in the area where he wanted to live and where he feels safe and secure, with the support he needs so he is able to maximise his independence. It has also meant that he has been able to pay for his family to visit from abroad.

Rachel Rees acted on behalf of Stepan and commented:

Despite having to cope not only with life-changing injuries in an unfamiliar country where he could no longer learn English because of this brain injury, Stepan and his partner coped amazingly with the very long ordeal of the claim which was a tough battle.

They stayed courageous and positive throughout and I concentrated on the complex medical/legal arguments . Having Peter Renshaw‘s highly specialist welfare benefits expertise in-house gave our team a great advantage, which resulted in an award tens of thousands higher than the CICA were initially willing to pay.